Wings of a Moon princess
by Strawberry Moon 007
Summary: when Serena arrives at Alfea she quickly catches the attention of the winx girls. if they thought the dragon fire was the most powerful magic in the universe, boy were they deluded... i don't own sailor moon or winx club or any references to other shows but please enjoy!
1. In the beginning of the story not time

"You are doing WHAAAAT?" Raye Hino yelled right in Serena's face. The blonde in question had kinda known her friend wasn't going to take it that well, she knew everyone was going to be pretty surprised but she had had an idea that Raye would use higher decibels.

"Erm…I'm going to a…magical boarding school…on…another…planet?" She squeaked in the same way she had when announcing her news for the first time.

"You cannot be serious!" Mina shrieked, running up to clasp Serena's hands. "Why would you leave us like this?" She whispered.

Serena smiled sadly. "Well four days ago I got this letter from this school called Alfea and I discussed it with Luna. At first I couldn't bear leaving any of you but then I thought with Ami going to Germany for a year, Mina filming in LA, Lita training to be a chef and Darien in Harvard then staying here would probably be worse…"

Her sentence trailed off as tears began to fall from her crystal blue eyes.

"Serena!" The four girls quickly grabbed her into a huge hug.

"Hey, it's ok, you'll be coming back for holidays right?" Lita desperately tried to reassure her. "And I'm sure this will be an excellent opportunity for your studies!" Ami added.

"You're right, you're right," Serena sighed. "I know I'm making a big this out of this, I mean we've been to other planets before, like Kimmoku to see the starlights, and Luna's coming with me but I don't know what I'm gonna do without you guys!"

"And I don't know what I'm gonna do without you to be my groupies when I'm becoming a star!" Mina cried dramatically.

"Mina you play a waitress." Raye rolled her eyes.

"NOOOO! Why did you have to crush my dreams? You big meanie!" Serena's fellow blonde wailed, pounding the floor in front of the raven-haired girl.

Everyone continued to watch the spectacle with huge sweatdrops for a few minutes before Lita eventually turned to the Sailor Scout of the Moon. "So when do you leave for this magic school?"

"In three weeks," Serena replied.

"Then we'll just have to spend those three weeks having the best time ever!" Mina had sprung out of her dramatic depression.

"How about we start with a sleepover here at the shrine tonight?" Raye suggested. "We can go to the store to get the stuff we need now!"

"YEEEAAHH!" The five girls exclaimed in unison.


	2. showdown at the OK shopper

"The ultimate popcorn master 5000," Serena read. She turned the box to one side to read the small print. "Warning, extreme consumption of the popcorn produced may result in increased blood pressure, diabetes, seizures and sugar rushes."

"So we're buying it then?" Mina grinned.

"Serena's eyes sparkled mischievously. "Yep! You bet!"

They were in the OK shopper selecting their favourite foods for the sleepover. Lita and Ami had gone off to the cake section and Raye had decided to stock up on her small movie selection.

However, after setting off in these directions, the three girls had instantly regretted leaving Serena and Mina alone together. And let's just say they were right to worry.

"So I think that's everything!" The Moon Princess announced, staring down at the various ice creams, chocolates, sweets and puddings she and her deputy had gathered together.

Suddenly Mina's sky blue orbs glinted dangerously. "Ahahaha! Mais non mon petit lapin! I sink you vill find zat zeese leetle veggies will, how you say, come in verry useful when we play truth or dare!"

At this she picked up a pile of carrots and waved them in front of Serena, which left the girl in question with an expression of great terror and confusion as to where in the name of Aphrodite her friend's fake French accent had come from.

Then her face started to crumple.

"WAAAH! YOU MEANIE YOU KNOW I HATE CARROTS!" She yelled with such a high volume that everyone in the store looked up.

Elsewhere in the local DVD store and a street away from the supermarket Raye suddenly stiffened.

"My Serena sense is tingling." She sighed.

However back at the OK shopper both Serena and Mina did not seem to realise the scene they were causing.

"YOU CAN'T MAKE ME EAT THEMMM!" Serena began to run away, desperately trying to impersonate greased lightning.

"Aha! You will not escape the carrot meister zat easily!" At this the Princess of Venus grabbed a huge water pistol off one of the shelves, pulled it out of its box and started loading it with carrots.

After running into the tinned food aisle Serena bent down to catch her breath. When she looked up her deep sapphire gems widened to see Mina advancing on her, wielding the…erm, carrot pistol and using their trolley as a scooter. She was also cackling like a madwoman.

"VENUS CARROT SHOWER!" She yelled at the top of her voice as she fired her first deadly weapon.

The carrot shot through the air in a straight line like an oversized orange bullet and impaled one of Serena's long pigtails against the shelf.

At this, the Moon princess searched around the area with her deep sapphire gems, desperately trying to find a weapon of her own. Suddenly her hand came into contact with a tin of mushrooms.

Flipping the lid open with a sly smile Serena dug her hand into the tin and scooped out a handful of sticky brown contents.

"Aha, but the Moon mushroom warrior has a secret weapon! MOON MUSHROOM MAGIC!" She hollered, pelting the handful at her friend.

"Direct hit!" She cheered as the mushrooms hit Mina right on her trademark red bow, staining it brown in the process.

"AIEEE!" She screamed, flapping her arms up and down so wildly it was a wonder she didn't let go of the pistol. And it was a good thing she didn't because she would need it for battle.

Only an hour and a quarter later the entire supermarket looked like the Moon kingdom would have looked destroyed if it had been Venus to betray it instead of the Dark Kingdom. Many people had fled for the sake of their lives but the majority had stayed to watch the show and a few were busy placing bets on who would win. You could even hear the odd cry of, "GET IN THERE MEATBALL HAIR!" Or. "LOOK OUT BLONDIE, SHE'S GOT A KNIFE- No wait, just a cucumber- BUT STILL A DEADLY WEAPON!"

"Give in V?" Serena asked, gangster-style as she held a custard pie in each hand, ready to throw.

"Never!" Mina grinned and continued to load her pistol with random items of food.

"Wanna do this the traditional way?" Serena suggested.

"You're on!"

They then turned their backs to each other and began to walk eleven steps away.

"1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-"

"GET THE HELL OUTTA MY STORE AND COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!"

The loud voice from the megaphone outside the building made them both lose their balance and slip on the whipped cream on the floor.

"Oh no we're gonna get arrested!" Mina began to panic. "Oh why oh why did Natsuna onee san have to be in Hawaii right now? She could have let me off the hook!"

"Nooooo! I'm too young to get arrestedddd!" Serena wailed. "I have my whooole liiife ahead of meee! I still haven't become queen of the earth, hanglided over the West Indies or eaten Italian ice cream yettt!"

"You haven't eaten Italian ice cream?" Mina asked.

"Nope!" Serena sniffled.

Mina's face widened into a broad grin. "Oh you haven't lived."

Suddenly before they could face the cops and the store owner who were about to burst in any minute, six hands shot out from behind them and grabbed hold of the girls, pulling them out through the back door in the process.

"What the hell were you guys thinking?" Raye exploded once the five were in a dark alleyway and safely away from the crowd.

"We-er- we…" Serena's face was beginning to crumple again when Mina cut her off.

"I was thinking, ARRRGGHHHH! THERE'S A MUSHROOM IN MY HAIIIRRRR!"

"But you destroyed an entire supermarket!" Lita exclaimed, still freaking out because she had only learnt to expect anything remotely possible from her blonde friends.

"If you think about it we've actually been able to destroy a whole lot more than a store." Mina pointed out. "Like that time we took out the Negaverse."

**Flashback**

Amy: MERCURY POWER!

Raye: MARS POWER!

Lita: JUPITER POWER!

Mina: VENUS POWER!

Serena: MOON PRISM POWER!

Queen Beryl: AAAAGGHHH!

**(Explosion)**

**End of flashback**

There was a deafening silence for 5 minutes.

"Ok good point taken." The brunette shook her head with a sigh.

"But girls if someone has recognised you, you both might get banned from the store!" Amy said anxiously as the group proceeded down the pavement with their heavy shopping bags.

"Oh well, if so then we're just lucky we're the ones who got disguise gadgets!" Serena shrugged. The princesses of the Moon and Venus put their arms around each other's shoulders as they walked towards the sunset, slightly ahead of the others.

"Ah, it's good to have Moon cats!"


	3. Everybody dance now

Back at Hikawa shrine Serena, Mina and Lita were each lying on a plush comfy cushion and happily absorbed in the world of the mask. So were Amy and Raye but the latter was still in shock that the two leading members of the team had decimated an entire supermarket.

"What if you guys didn't have disguise gadgets huh?" The raven-haired girl continued to rant. "What if you weren't secret Senshis who fight for love and justice? And are you- EVEN LISTENING TO ME!" She now had a huge sweat drop as she yelled in the direction of their backs.

Mina momentarily looked up with an expression of great wisdom and knowledge. ("Oh god," Raye thought.)When the blonde spoke her tone was insanely calm.

"Ah but Raye chan the fact remains that we do have them and we are secret senshis who fight for love and justice and if you deny it again I swear to Aphrodite I will showcase my scars from that particularly nasty fight scene involving that rogue youma we had last Saturday."

"You don't have any scars." Raye frowned.

"Oh really?... Well if I go to the bathroom to…erm check on them then prepare to feast your eyes!"

With that she rushed off to the bathroom where everyone could hear the frantic zipping sound of a bag being opened and a "God dammit! Why did I have to leave my freaking eyeliner pencil at home? Just when I need it most! Oh well, DISGUISE SCRUNCHIE! MAKE ME A SUPER UGLY FESTERING WOUND!"

After quite some time Mina eventually swaggered in, her orange shirt rolled up to show a particularly gruesome looking slash across her stomach that everyone knew had definitely not been there before.

"See guys? This is the burden that comes with being a senshi of love! One must suffer at all costs! And I am the senshi of love and beauty so this is a particularly hard blow for me!" She whispered as dramatic tears began to fall from her glistening eyes.

"Yeah, you made that just now." Lita didn't look up from the TV screen.

"And you're missing the best part of the movie!" Serena wailed, but like her brunette friend, not budging from her position.

"So it's a good idea if you get rid of that scar." Ami remarked, observing the horrific injury like the true doctor she was soon to be. "Because if you don't you'll be stuck with it forever so do so now while the transformation's still removable."

"Agh! DETRANSFORM!" At once the scar was gone and Mina sagged down next to the others with a sigh of relief.

The next half hour was rather uneventful, except for Raye forcefully stopping Serena and Mina from reenacting the fast dance scene because even though the Moon senshi was a lot better at dancing than she was at fourteen, she was still not particularly light on her feet.

"You know guys, it's times like these when I wish I could be in the moment forever," Serena smiled softly as Stanley Ipkiss once again donned his green superhero mask. "You ever get that feeling?"

"Sure I do, like that time when we first met!" Lita replied. "You know it's funny, before I never really had any real friends because everyone was scared of 'the karate maniac' so in a way I'm really happy to be Sailor Jupiter because now I have so many wonderful friends!"

"I felt the same way Lita!" Ami looked up from the book she had been reading. "And Serena I feel like you've actually taught me something!"

"Omg I, as in MOI actually TAUGHT-YOU?" Everyone laughed at Serena's dramatic gasp.

"Yes," Ami giggled. "You taught me that it's good to take a break from studying and have fun! Well, once in a while anyway."

"And Serena needs to take a break from having fun and start studying!" Raye remarked which made Serena scowl and the others laugh.

"OMG IT'S CUBAN PETE TIME!" Mina suddenly gasped in a typical high-pitched fangirl tone. She grabbed the TV remote and turned it up full volume.

"YAY LET'S DANCE!" Serena jumped up eagerly, almost knocking the popcorn bowl into Raye's face and started dancing and singing a long with Mina to the catchy song.

_They call me Cuban Pete._

_I'm the king of a rumba beat._

_When I shake my maracas I go chi-chicky boom chi-chicky boom._

"Come on girls!" They exclaimed in between dance moves. "Get up and dance!"

"I think they've had too much of the 'special' popcorn." Ami whispered to Raye and Lita.

However to their dismay, the sailor scouts of the Moon and Venus were clearly not going to take no for an answer.

"C'mon, EVERYBODY DANCE NOW!" In one huge tug Mina had both Lita and Ami up on their feet. On the other hand Serena was having trouble with Raye who was clinging to the table in front of her for dear life while her blonde friend desperately tried to pull her by the ankles.

"Aw Raye you're gonna miss iiiit!" The odango headed girl wailed.

"Yeah, come on Raye it's fun!" Lita had now got into the groove of the green-faced tornado on the screen.

Finally the princess of Mars relented when she saw that even Ami had managed to drop her book and joined in to the conga.

"CONGA, CONGA COONGAA! CONGA CONGA COONGAAA!" Mina and Serena yelled at the tops of their voices while leading the five-fractioned conga in the process, which was still going long after the song had ended.

At last as the credits came on the five girls fell into a heap on the floor, creating a sailor scout mountain.

"Ack, whose foot's in my face?" Lita gasped for air as she felt the object in question brush against her nose.

"Oops! I'm sorry!" Ami blushed while trying to wriggle free from the mountain snake-style.

"Hey chaarrrlieee! We're going to caaaandy mountaaiinnn!" Mina shouted, moving around clumsily and jolting everyone else in the process.

"Cut it out blondie!" Raye snapped.

"Caaandy mouuuntain! Caaaandy mouuuuntain!" Mina continued, completely obvlious to Raye's voice.

"Ok, you brought this on yourself…JUPITER CRYSTAK POWER!" A sudden flash of lightning threw them all over to the other side of the room as a cloud of emerald green smoke sprung out from where Lita was. When it disintergrated, there stood Sailor Jupiter in her green and pink sailor fuku, a single gem in the middle of a golden tiara.

"You could have just used your karate!" Serena moaned quietly, still shivering from the shock of the lightning.

"Oh my Zeus Serena I'm so sorry!" Lita instantly detransformed and ran to her side to grab her into a hug.

"Hey did ya forget about us?" Raye demanded indignantly.

"Shut your mouth Raye, she's gonna rule the Earth and the Moon in a few years!" Lita told her, still holding Serena.

"Ooh! That reminds me…" Mina quickly transformed and ran off.

"Um…ok!" Serena squeaked.

Only until the rest of the girls were getting ready for bed did Mina finally return.

"Where…" Ami began before Raye interrupted. "THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?"

"Oh, just business." Mina smiled shiftily.

"What kind of business?" Lita snorted.

The blonde's sky blue eyes gave a dangerous glint. "Just running an errand for Strawberry Moon…"

"Who?" Serena echoed.

"Erm never mind. Less talk, more PILLOW FIGHT!" She yelled, flinging a nearby pillow at Ami, who ducked so the identified flying object hit Lita instead.

"Right that does it! Jupiter pillow throw!" The brunette chose to throw hers somewhere in between Serena and Raye.

Soon the air in the room was thick with flying pillows as the fight became more intense.

Eventually some began to run out of energy while some fell to the ground in a deep sleep. And as for one senshi…

"I WIN!" Serena cried triumphantly, doing her victory dance. However, looking around the room she sweatdropped at the sight of four sleeping sailor scouts.

She suddenly decided to tuck each of them in, in case they got too cold.

"Aw you guys…" Her eyes began to water as she smiled sadly. "I'm sure gonna miss hanging with you," She whispered, settling down to sleep next to Raye.


	4. let's get going

The small vibration coming from her hello kitty handbag was what woke Serena the next morning. Or maybe afternoon, she wasn't sure. Sighing sleepily she hauled herself up and started to trudge to the noise, feeling some sort of soft black material beneath her feet.

"GET YOUR FAT FEET OFF MY HAIR MEATBALL BRAIN!"

"Oh, that's what it is Raye chan." Serena mumbled softly, still not bothering to detach herself from what she now knew to be Raye's onyx tresses which were getting tangled into her toes. As a result the owner of the thick well kept hair was being dragged along head first behind her.

"Wassgoin on?" Mina asked sleepily, her Ami and Lita had also just been woken up.

Apparently oblivious to her friend's awakenings Serena finally reached her phone.

"Y'ello?" She answered. Then her face lit up like a full moon. "Darien!"

"Huh?" As quick as a flash Mina, Ami and Lita honed in on her like a seagull would to a tourist who was carrying food, although Raye was still trying to pull her hair out from under her leader's feet.

However any tiredness Serena previously had had now completely vanished as she was listening avidly to the person on the other end of the phone, as if hearing his voice was the only thing she wanted to do in the entire world.

"I know Darien, isn't it exciting? Oh don't worry I'll be ok, I'm still going to call you every day!" (poor guy thought Raye)

"I'm so glad to hear you're doing well! I love you! No I don't wanna hang up! You do it! No you! Ok on the count of 3. 1-2-3! But you didn't either Darien! Yeah I know!"

When Serena finally put down the phone her cheeks were tinged with pink and there was a vacant gloss in her crystal blue gems.

"Ah the little love bunny finally finishes talking with her long distance lover eh?" Mina draped an arm around Serena with annoyingly knowing expression. However the girl in question was still in her happy daydream and did not answer.

"So what do we do today gang?" Lita asked, kicking back on the mattress she had slept in the previous night.

"I don't know maybe we could-" Raye began.

"SEE THE SMURFSSS!" Mina and Serena (who had suddenly come back to the real world) bellowed right in her ear.

"Oh hell no! What are you, babies?" Raye scoffed.

"Well I don't see why not." Lita and Ami weren't showing any signs of resistance.

"WAAA RAYE DOESN'T WANNA SEE THE SMURFSSS!" The princess of Venus wailed, pounding the floor violently.

"WHAT DID THEY EVER DO TOOO YOUUUU?" Serena was also following her example. "THEY'RE SOOOO ADORABLE AND CUUUTE AND WHY DO YOU HATE THEMMM?"

"I don't hate them," Raye sighed exasperatedly. " It's just that we do need to do grown up things occasionally."

Serena smiled slyly. "Oh Raye chan if you even caught a glimpse of what I do on dates with Darien you wouldn't call me a baby."

"Ok you win." The princess of Mars said quickly.

Half an hour the five girls were happily seated in the cinema room stuffing popcorn and ice cream into their mouths although Serena had already eaten most of it.

"You know Ami chan you're just like brainy!" The blonde remarked, taking another slurp of her milkshake. "Yeah all you need are some Harry potter glasses, a smurf hat and you're good to go!" Mina added.

Ami blushed. "Oh stop it you guys, I'm not that clever- but I do think the surfs are cute, and they're my favourite colour!"

"What are you talking about not being clever?" Serena was aghast . "Anyway I think we all have an inner smurf, you're brainy, Lita I think you'd be gutsy…"

"But I don't have a Scottish accent!" Lita protested.

"It's ok you've got loads of time to work on it!" The Moon princess reassured her.

"I'd be Smurfette!" Mina proclaimed as everyone rolled their eyes. "And Raye would be grouchy!"

"Hey!" Raye stood up in shock as she tried to think of a comeback. "Well Serena you're… clumsy! Hey, wait a sec…" She surveyed the room with her sharp eyes. "Why are we the only ones in here?"

Serena placed a hand on her shoulder. "Ah that Raye is one of the many questions of the cosmos…which is why I can do this!" After saying these words of wisdom she proceeded to run to the front of the screen room and attempt to do a cartwheel although the attempt failed, resulting in her landing in a heap on the floor.

"My turn!" Mina then followed her example, her version being a success.

"Ta dah!" She exclaimed proudly.

"Mina…" Ami began. "Why are you wearing Sailor V shorts under your skirt.

Mina pouted. "I can hold on to my fame can't I?"

During the next three weeks Serena and the sailor scouts enjoyed themselves to the maximum. They went to funky restaurants, ice skating, roller skating, parties, gave each other makeovers, saw movies and even got their pictures taken in one of those tiny photo booths in the mall.

However, eventually the day came when Serena had to leave Tokyo and all the Sailor Scouts were gathered at Hikawa shrine to say goodbye. Ami had to catch her own flight to Germany later that day but she'd made herself a planned schedule so she could see off one of her most special friends. "I'm sure you'll do really well over there!: She choked as she gave Serena a warm hug.

"Thanks Ames!" Serena managed to say. She turned to Lita. "I'll miss too Lita!" She almost cut off the brunette's air supply but Lita didn't mind as she embraced her blonde friend equally tightly.

"Don't worry Serena, we'll see you again soon!" She told her. "We'll all be together then and hey, maybe we might come and visit you sooner!"

"Yes! That's a really good idea!" Serena brightened.

"You still have to concentrate on your studies though!" Ami reminded her semi-sternly.

"Yeah yeah whatever," Serena playfully stuck her tongue out before her deep sapphire orbs became watery once again.

"Bye Raye chan, I can't believe I'll actually miss our epic tongue wars!"

"You won't have to miss any of us if you remember to keep your mobile and face book channel on meatball head!" Raye told her leader.

At last Serena turned to Mina. " Nooo Mina chan how will I live without my twin?" She cried theatrically as she ran towards the other blonde in slow motion style.

"And how will I live without my twin?" Mina cried, joining in. They clasped each other's hands.

"Think of me when you read a Sailor V manga!" Mina whispered." And think of me when you read a Sailor Moon manga!" Serena said in the same emotional tone.

The other three girls merely rolled their eyes at this, however Artemis appeared somewhat troubled from his position next to Luna.

"Luna, why do I get the feeling that you'll have an easier time with Serena than I will in America with Mina!" The white cat shook his head.

"Oh Artemis I'm sure you'll manage!" Luna chuckled. "But you are right about Serena, she certainly has developed over the years into a strong and successful leader and I think that this will be good for her, after all it is extremely important she earns this one more form to help her become powerful enough to become Neo queen Serenity."

The black cat leapt onto Serena's pink suitcase. "Serena I think it's time for us to go if we want to arrive on schedule!"

"Yeah, I guess," Serena finally detached herself from Mina and went to stand by her suitcase.

"Bye guys, I'll be checking in online tonight, I love you!" She tried to muster a smile as she put her sky blue shoulder bag on.

"Wait Serena!" Raye cried, just as the blue eyed teen was about to activate the teleport on her new wrist communicator. "We want you to take this."

The raven haired girl held out a fuchsia leather book which had various flower shaped stickers dotted around the front cover. On opening it Serena saw that it contained many of the best times they had together captured in multiple pictures. However one that caught her eye straight away was the one of all the Sailor Scouts, even Amara, Michelle, Trista and Hotaru standing in front of the fountain.

"When-" "We thought you'd like something to remember us by!" Mina smiled. "We got all the photos of our most special times and put them in this album, I hope you like it!" Ami explained.

"Don't worry, we made sure we used the good shots of you!" Lita winked.

"Aw you guys, I don't like it- I love it! Just like I love you all! " Serena exclaimed rushing up for a final group hug.

Luna sighed exasperatedly. "Serena will you get a move on? Because I must say now would be an excellent time!"

"Agh! Ok Luna, I'm coming! I'm coming!" Serena quickly scooted over to her suitcase.

"I'll think of you every day!" She called.

"And I'll think of you when I'm shooting my move- *hit* OUCH RAYE!" "YOU'RE IN ONE SCENE V!"

That was the last Serena saw and heard before the teleport whizzed her, Luna and her luggage off the face of the Earth and towards the magical dimension.


	5. Princess of the Moon, meet the Winx

"Hey Bloom, wait up!" A sudden shout shook the fire fairy out of her thoughts.

"What is it Stella?" She got up from her seat to see her five best friends coming towards her at a steady pace.

"Ms. F says you left one of your books in her office," Stella replied in her usual happy go lucky manner. "But she's rather frazzled so if I were you I'd just take it and go!"

"Ms. F, frazzled?" Bloom laughed. Then her expression became serious. "Wait does that mean Baltor's attacked another realm? Layla how's the situation on

Tides, is everything ok there?"

"I think so," The fairy of water and shapes told her. "Ever since Tecna closed up the omega portal it's been okay so far." She shot a grateful look at her pink haired friend.

"Oh well, I'd better go anyway." Bloom sighed. "Don't forget we're going to

Magix later!" Stella yelled at her friend's retreating form.

"Ms Faragonda?" Bloom hesitantly opened the door to the Headmistress of

Alfea's office. "Oh come in Bloom! Your book's on that chair, over there." She was greeted with a cheery smile from the woman in question. However she was slightly taken aback by the large and rather menacing black file sitting on her desk like a large black hound of hell.

"Oh Bloom don't look so surprised!" Ms Faragonda laughed, catching sight of the girl's wary expression. "I'm only doing a bit of paperwork! Which reminds me; there's something I need to tell you."

"What is it Ms. F?" Bloom asked, picking up her book.

"There is a new student arriving today at Alfea and I'm afraid as there's no room anywhere else we've had to put her in Stella's single, but I'm sure you and your friends will do your best to make her feel welcome here!"

"Don't worry Ms. F, you can count on us!" The princess of Sparx called as she bounded out of the office excitedly to tell the others the news. However, once

Bloom had left the room Ms Faragonda's face clouded over with anxiety.

"Although if she's who these papers say she is then we're dealing with a power that is even greater than that of the dragon fire!"

"So did Ms. F say anything about this new student?" Musa asked as the group strolled out into the bright sunshine.

"Not much," Bloom answered. "But she did say that she'll be staying in

Stella's single!"

"WHAT!" The blonde in question exclaimed, aghast. "But I always have my own room!"

"Well Ms. F said there's nowhere else she could go." Bloom told her apologetically. "But I said we'd show her around, I hope that's okay with you girls."

"Of course it is!" Flora smiled. "It's always so nice to meet new people and make new friends!"

"Although it does seem a bit strange that she'd be arriving today." Tecna noted. "I mean, if she was going to come here then why didn't she do so last week along with the other new students?"

"Oh apparently she only accepted at the last minute." Bloom said.

"Hang on; I think I see her over there!" Layla's statement made their gazes rest on a young girl who was about their age, taking in her surroundings while struggling to wheel her suitcase towards the grounds. A black cat was perched neatly on top of the pink surface in question.

"Wait, she could be a witch who was sent here by mistake!" Stella panicked.

"Stella!" Bloom hissed. "Since when did we judge people by old traditions?"

"Bloom's right." The fairy of technology added. "Nowadays 60% of the magical dimension residents have cats as pets and they are a good mix of witches and fairies!"

"Tecna!" Everyone exclaimed.

"Well whoever she is, Griselda seems to be giving her a hard time!" Musa was watching the girl flake hard in front of the sternest teacher in the school.

"We should go help her!" Bloom declared. She remembered all too well being in that situation.

However before any of the girls could move a muscle, the topic of their discussion suddenly produced a piece of paper from her shoulder bag and handed it to the teacher. They were all extremely surprised to see Griselda jump back in shock!

"Whoa! What was all that about?" The musical fairy exclaimed when she could finally find her voice.

"I don't know but we should go and say hi, as we're in the same dorm as her I think we should try to get to know her better." Bloom replied.

"But where did she get that hairdo?" Stella muttered as she followed her friends down the steps. "It looks like a pair of meatballs!"

"STELLA!"

When Serena opened her eyes she stared in wonder at her surroundings. "Wow, it's beautiful!" She gasped.

"Yes, it is rather impressive," Luna agreed. "Wait a minute Luna," Serena started to slowly wheel her bag towards the school. "Am I supposed to tell someone that I'm from another planet? I mean, the Moon kingdom was destroyed years and years ago so what should I tell them?"

"Don't worry I have your papers here in your bag," The black moon cat patted the bag strap on the blonde's shoulder. "They will explain everything, but I'm afraid you can't go round telling anyone you're Sailor Moon- or that you're from the Moon kingdom for that matter. If anyone asks, say your planet was destroyed and while you can still transform here only do so unless you absolutely have to!"

"Yeah, but-EEK!" Serena was about to reply when she found herself face to face with an extremely stern looking woman.

"So you're the new student starting at Alfea are you?" The teacher boomed.

"Erm…yes?" Serena squeaked.

"Well I need your name and realm so that I can see if you're on our list and if it turns out you're not I'm afraid I cannot permit you to enter the grounds!"

"Oh…ok!" At this Serena flung her shoulder bag on the ground and proceeded to flip frantically through the contents. "Luna where are my papers? Where are they?" She hissed in a high-pitched tone.

"It's no use blaming a cat for your organizational skills whether they exist or not!" The teacher sighed, rolling her eyes impatiently.

"But I have them right-" Serena desperately fumbled at the bottom of her bag before her fingers eventually came into contact with the side pocket…

"-Here!" She grabbed the papers with gusto and dumped them into the hands of the strict professor. The next thing she knew was that the woman in question had jumped back slightly and her face now looked rather flustered.

"Oh goodness gracious! Please forgive me for my behavior; it's just that the school has to maintain a high level of security what with all the commotion going on in Magix!"

"Uh, ok?" Serena muttered, bewildered.

"I am Ms Griselda, professor of discipline here at Alfea and may I say what an honour it is to have you here as a student!" Griselda continued. "I will inform the headmistress of your arrival immediately!"

Once she was gone Serena turned to Luna. "Ok Luna what were in those papers? Because what happened just now was major weird."

However the cat was unable to answer and could only point at the six figures coming towards them. When Serena turned to face them she could see that they were all girls about her age and, she guessed, probably in the same form as her. The red haired one extended her hand with a bright smile.

"Welcome to Alfea! Hi, I'm Bloom and these are my friends-"

"Stella! Princess of Solaria, it's great to meet cha!" A blonde girl interrupted, strongly reminding Serena of one of her own best friends who ruled Venus.

"Hey, I'm Musa from Melody!" Another girl with long black pigtails gave a friendly wave.

"I'm Tecna of Zenith, a pleasure to make your acquaintance!" The girl with short pink hair momentarily looked up from what appeared to be a portable computer, another trigger of Serena's sadness of missing her friends, this time Ami.

"I'm Flora of Linphea." Somehow Serena couldn't help but take an instant liking to the girl with emerald eyes who gave her a shy smile.

"And I'm Layla from the realm of Tides." Said the dark skinned girl next to Bloom.

"Uh…" Inwardly Serena was panicking. _"Where should I say I'm from? They're all from far off galaxies-would they even have heard of Earth? Although I'm gonna be Queen of the Earth soon and I've lived there all my life-so I guess I should say Earth!"_

"…Hi! I'm Serena Tsukino from the realm of Earth!" She burbled in a single breath before bowing quickly as she often did when meeting people in her hometown of Tokyo.

Stella swore she could have seen the cat face palm out of the corner of her eye. However the rest of the girls seemed oblivious to the newcomer's ditz attack.

"Cool!" Bloom exclaimed. "So am I, I mean my realm was destroyed when I was a baby but I've lived on Earth all my life! Although I thought that there weren't that many Earth fairies left on the planet, do you know any others?"

"Huh? Oh no I'm not really from Earth, my planet was destroyed a long time ago, same as you," Serena told her, seeming somewhat glad that she wasn't the only one in that situation. However she soon became aware of the sympathetic looks the winx girls were giving her.

"Do you remember anything about it?" Layla asked her with a look of concern.

"Only a little." Serena answered swiftly, desperately trying to change the subject before she let something slip. "But I'm glad I live on Earth, I have so many wonderful friends! We go waaay back, you know? And we've had so much fun over the years…"

Suddenly an overwhelming sensation hit her like an invisible tidal wave and sparkling droplets of water began to overflow from her eyes.

"Oh no, I promised the girls I'd start here with a smile," She whispered.

"Oh, you're probably just a little homesick, with our help I'm sure you'll settle in here in no time!" Bloom reassured her with a friendly smile.

"Yeah, yeah you're right." Serena sighed softly with a smile. Then she seemed to perk up a little.

"Anyway I really have to go and find my room so I can unpack!" She exclaimed, grabbing the handle of her suitcase.

"Oh don't worry about that, you'll be sharing with Stella so we can show you the way!" Bloom bent down to help her with the bag. However when she looked up, her eyes came into contact with a pair of chocolate brown irises belonging to the animal she had seen earlier.

"Oh hello! And who might you be?" She stroked the cat's head, earning a purr from the feline in question.

"Oh, that's my cat Luna!" Serena smiled. "Although she must really like you, usually she's not that friendly!"

Luna meowed in protest at the girl who simply rolled her eyes.

"Wait a minute." It was Tecna's turn to lower herself to Luna's level. "She has a golden crescent Moon on her forehead! I've never seen any cat, not even in Magix with something like that!"

"What? Oh that's just a…birthmark! A vet checked it out back home and he said there was nothing wrong with it," Serena was quick to answer. "Although personally I think she's grown a big head from all the attention she's gotten about it!" She whispered to Bloom with a wink.

"Well anyway we're going to Magix this afternoon to meet up with the guys, would you like to come?" The red haired girl asked. "We can show you where the best shops are!" Stella added.

"Sure, I'd love to!" Serena exclaimed happily. "So what kind of powers do you guys have then?" She enquired as the group made their way to the door.

"Well my planet is in the Harmonic Nebula so I'm all about music!" Musa told her.

"My planet specializes in Technology." Tecna added. "Wait just a minute, I can show you!"

At the touch of a button the device in her hand projected a large 3D hologram of many electronically advanced buildings. Serena stared at it in amazement.

"Wow, very… techy," She commented, impressed.

"My powers are as bright as the sun's seeing as Solaria has a few!" Stella exclaimed. Then her shoulders drooped slightly. "Although I'm sorry we can't be going there any time soon… the shops are amazing! Especially at this time of year!"

The change in her body language was extremely subtle but little did the Winx girls know that Serena had sensed the movement.

"I'm the fairy of nature and plants." It was Flora's turn to speak. A sudden movement on the ground near Serena's feet made her attentions turn towards a small green stem that was growing there. A cloud of pink dust made it suddenly blossom into a beautiful rose of the same sugary shade. The fairy that had created it carefully picked it up and handed it to Serena.

"Thank you!" The blonde smiled, grabbing it enthusiastically. However on inhaling its heavenly scent her smile vanished slightly.

"_Rini's colour," _She whispered so softly that no else but Luna was able to hear her. It was probably just as well.

"My realm looks after all kind of oceans." Layla put in. Then she winked. "There's usually loads of water sports taking place, like swimming or surfing!"

However, with hindsight Bloom would not have chosen to tell Serena her power because she would regret the consequences.

"And my power is called Dragon fire…"

"Fire? I miss Raye chan!" Serena instantly burst into uncontrollable tears and fell to her knees on the ground.

"Whoa whoa whoa, calm down!" Stella flapped around her as if trying to quieten a screaming toddler while Tecna and Layla were too busy trying to tell the growing number of spectators that there really was nothing to see. It was only until Luna jumped on Serena's head, did the girl finally cease to cry.

"Ouch Luna! You've probably gotten rid of the only brain cells I have left!" The others laughed at her cross remark.

"Anyway, it's best if we unpack right away so we can get to Magix early!" Bloom exclaimed, extremely relieved that Serena had lost her sad mood.

A little while later Bloom, Stella, Tecna, Musa, Flora and Layla were all gathered in Serena and Stella's new room, watching Serena unpack. Even though they had helped her with most of her clothes, there were still a few things that the teen in question wanted to put away herself.

"Thanks for helping me, I really appreciate it!" She told her new friends happily as she carefully placed her laptop on her bedside table. "But I'm sorry I put you to so much trouble!

"No problem!" Bloom replied. "We knew you just needed to settle in a little bit! I remember when it was my first day here!"

"Yes, that's what friends are for sweetie!" Flora added.

"Hey, what's that?" The photo album poking out of Serena's bag had caught Stella's attention.

"Huh? Oh that's just some pictures of me and my friends-here!" The Moon princess opened it to show them the contents.

"That's Lita when she was baking a cake for my birthday," She explained, pointing to the photo in question from which her brunette friend held a large white mixing bowl with a speck of flour framing her forehead. "The girls must've taken it when I was out."

She turned the page very carefully. "And there's Ami and me on vacation at a hot springs, can you believe she actually brought her advanced quantum physics textbook with her as light reading?" Serena turned to Tecna, teary-eyed. "I know we've only just met but you remind me of her, you know?"

"It's only logical you should feel that way." Tecna pointed out.

"Hey, who's that girl there? She's got style!" Stella nodded approvingly in the direction of another photo on the page.

"That's Mina on the night of a fashion show our school had. She actually got a small part in a movie that's gonna be really huge when it comes out in the cinemas, even though she only plays a waitress she's promised to get us all tickets to the premier, I never got to tell her how proud I am of h-" The phrase was cut dramatically short as Serena once again burst into tears.

However this time nothing would stop her.

"Aagh! Lower the volume already!" Musa cried with her hands clamped tightly over her sensitive ears.

"I'm measuring the decibels and it's off the scale!" Tecna remarked, her teal eyes wide at the readings on her computer.

"I MISS AMI-CHAN! AND LITA-CHAN AND MINA-CHAN! I MISS AMARA AND MICHELLE! AND TRISTA WITH LITTLE HOTARU! AND I WANT MY DARIEEEN!" Serena continued to howl, totally oblivious to everyone's reactions.

"Poor thing," Flora said quietly.

"Well we can't just sit here! We've gotta do something!" Stella yelled, desperately trying to make herself heard above the noise.

Suddenly Bloom had an idea. "I know!" She said loudly. "When we're in Magix, we'd better be sure to get some of that fabulous chocolate cheesecake in that new store-"

"Did someone say chocolate cheesecake?" Serena instantly enquired, apparently forgetting to continue her wails. Musa fell to the floor with a sweatdrop.

"Sure thing!" Bloom grinned. "And I know the place which does the best pizza!"

"PIZZA?" Serena exclaimed at the top of her voice. She promptly jumped up and ran to the doorway. Then just as she was about to go through, she sweat dropped.

"Erm, please could you guys show me where it is?"

"Of course the red haired girl giggled as she and her friends departed from the dormitory. However just as they were about to leave, Serena quickly remembered something.

"Wait! There's something I've gotta do first!" She sprinted back into the single and delicately placed a framed photo on her bedside table next to her laptop.

"Darien," She sighed, tenderly running her finger across the image of her boyfriend. "I'll call you tonight…"

"Hey Serena, are you coming?" Bloom called from the corridor.

"Yup! I'll be right there!" Serena beamed, racing up to join her new friends.

"Pizza, pizza,pizza,pizza,pizza!"


	6. Ridin on a bus to a magic battle

**Hi guys!**

**I know it's been a long wait, but I've finally done the next chapter! Invisible cookies go to the people who spot the references to other stuff ;)**

**Thank you for all your support on this story it really means a lot to me, and right now I'm so happy because I've finished your present just in time! Happy Christmas! :D**

"Baltor why haven't we taken anymore spells from other realms lately? It's just so boring being stuck here!" Stormy whined exasperatedly, flinging herself onto a nearby chair in the dark cave.

"Stormy shut it." Icy told her sharply. She too was irritated at their current situation and the frequent headaches she had been having were also contributing vastly to her bad mood. "There's gotta be a good reason why Baltor hasn't decided to do so."

"There is." The voice of the dark wizard in question made all three witches heads look up as he walked towards them, carrying a fragile dusty book in his hands.

"A few days ago I came across information about a very interesting object, perhaps the most powerful in the entire cosmos." He continued.

"Even more powerful than the Dragon fire?" Darcy asked.

"Even more powerful than the Dragon fire. Not even all of the magic I have from the entire magical dimension could even have a hope of victory against it if there were to be such a battle." Baltor opened the book to show them a picture of a beautiful shining crystal; it's layers resembling the petals of a perfect flower.

"The Silver Imperium Crystal. It once belonged to the White Moon family of the Silver Millennium before it's war against the dark kingdom." He stared longingly at the image of the object in question, as if it were real and in his grasp.

"Ugh I remember having to study that stupid legend in magical history class at Cloud tower!" Icy recalled, rolling her eyes. "But at least we only did the cool parts like the Dark kingdom, we never looked at the pathetic little Moon palace itself like those Alfea losers do!"

Baltor couldn't help sending her a look at her comment. "It just so happened Icy; that the pathetic Moon palace as you call it, was able to wipe out the entire dark kingdom with the help of the crystal! Now if only I was able to obtain it, I could easily become the greatest wizard of all time!"

"So where is it now?" Darcy moved over to take a closer look. "Are we gonna go and search for it?"

"After the Moon kingdom was destroyed no one knew what happened to it, some say it shattered into pieces while others say it was lost in time and space. In fact, as the Silver Millennium itself is just a legend, many people wonder whether it even existed or not."

"Then why the hell are we wasting our time over something that doesn't even exist?" Stormy demanded angrily, raising her voice considerably and making Icy and Darcy both wince at the sound.

"Because while I have to come to terms with the fact that I can't have the crystal, I know that I can get the second best artifact that will help me in ruling the universe and will be able to harness many spells." Baltor said as a wicked smile grew on his face.

"Anyone up for a trip to the Magix museum?"

During the whole coach journey Serena was very hyper and kept kneeling by the window and pointing excitedly at buildings, which the winx girls were only too happy to tell her about.

"So people can just step into this tube to see what they look like without having to try the clothes on?" she asked once again, her eyes gleaming with excitement.

"Of course!" Stella replied, as if there was no other way to shop. "That way people can try on couture all over the realms! It might be a one of a kind dress but a hundred shops can carry it!"

"Ooh! The girls are gonna be soooo jealous when they hear about this!" Serena started laughing wildly. She fidgeted from side to side on her seat and waving her legs up and down and licking a strawberry ring pop she had produced from her pocket.

"Ridin on the bus

Riding on the bus

Sitting next to bums

There's an open seat

Hope that isn't peee!" She sang at the top of her voice.

The two bums she was referring to were a fox and his scruffily dressed cat friend who both glared daggers at her. However she did not seem to notice as she kept repeating the sole verse time and time again until they got off the bus at the first possible sign of the vehicle slowing down. Unfortunately the driver had only stopped to take a sip of his semi skimmed espresso and they went hurtling off the edge of the cliff.

Choosing to ignore the sound of bones crunching on rock Bloom turned to the rest of the girls with a look of concern.

"Wait a minute," She said slowly as she realized something. "What about Baltor? If she comes from Earth I don't think she knows how dangerous it is in Magix at the moment!"

"Not to mention we don't know anything about her powers, or if she even has any at all." Tecna added.

"Doesn't that high-pitched scream count?" Musa asked weakly.

"But if she wasn't magical she wouldn't have been able to pass through the magic barrier to Alfea!" Flora argued.

"Either way she needs to know what's going on, and if she doesn't seem to have powers we'll just have to protect her if he shows up!" Layla said.

"And I'm sure we can do that just fine!" Stella exclaimed. "Those annoying witches don't stand a chance against our Enchantix powers!"

When the vehicle finally reached its destination Serena bounded out excitedly, closely followed by the six fairies.

"Oh wow this is so exciting!" She exclaimed, skipping around the street. "There are so many shops I totally don't know where to begin!"

"Oh don't worry about that, I know where the best are!" Stella added. "And I heard that this week Whizz Rocky was gonna launch a mega sale!"

"Don't forget we're supposed to meet up with the guys in ten minutes." Bloom reminded them. However the sight of one of her favorite accessories had already distracted the newcomer.

"OH MY GOSH, RHINESTONES!" She squealed, pressing her palm against the glass. "And they have them in pink and purple!"

"She really doesn't know what's been going on here does she?" Bloom shook her head with a sigh.

"But we're all Enchantix fairies now!" Tecna said. "And if Baltor does show up I'm sure we'll be able to put up a fight!"

"But so far he hasn't so I say we just enjoy now!" Stella declared. "I mean the new girl seems to be nice, we're going shopping and it's a weekend! What could be better than this?"

"Maybe if some Red Fountain guys were here?" The sudden voice made the girls draw their attentions to five boys who had just arrived.

"Brandon! Snookums!" Stella exclaimed.

"Hi Helia!" Flora squealed, hugging the boy with long black hair.

"Hello Timmy," Tecna said shyly to the one who was wearing glasses.

"Hey Brandon, hey Helia hey Timmy," Musa seemed to be deliberately avoiding the boy with spiky magenta hair but a small grin told him that she was joking.

The last boy with chin length blonde hair approached Bloom, who grinned when she looked up to see him.

"Sky!" She exclaimed happily. "It's so good to see you! Wait, I thought you went to Eraklyon,"

"I couldn't miss our outing to Magix could I?" He false asked. Then he gave her a look of concern. "Wait shouldn't you be resting? I mean it's been four days since we went to the Omega dimension."

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine!" Bloom laughed. "In fact I feel too revved up to rest!"

"Hey, who are you?" Serena asked, coming over to the group having finished gazing at the window display. Her deep sapphire orbs darted from one face to another.

"Oh, I forgot you guys hadn't officially met," Bloom gestured to her. "Guys this is Serena Tsukino, she just started at Alfea today, Serena these are our boyfriends, Sky, Brandon, Riven, Timmy and Helia!"

"Hi there!" The blonde grinned. Then her face clouded over with sudden realization.

"But I d-don't have DARIEEEN!" She wailed. Her knees sinking down onto the ground as a pair of waterfalls spouted from each of her eyes.

"What's up with her?" Riven enquired as he observed her with a wary expression.

"Riven be nice," Musa told him sternly. "This is her first time in Magix and I don't think she's even been to this dimension before!"

Fortunately Serena was too busy in conversation with her over-active imagination to hear any of his words.

"WAAAAAA! DARIEN I MISS YOU SOOOO MUCH! Are you missing me? I bet you're probably not missing me, who knows you've probably gone off with some girl you just met and you're probably not even thinking of me, and I don't have the girls to give me a positive theory! But still- THE DISTANCE! I JUST CAN'T TAKE IT ANIEMOORE!"

"Let's go get that pizza now guys!" Bloom announced, struggling to make herself heard above the ringing wails.

"YAAAAY!" Serena jumped up and down happily, her clouds of sadness having parted to reveal her sunny smile. All the guys stared in disbelief and the girls just shook their heads.

"Is she from Oppositus or something?" Brandon asked Stella in a low voice.

"No one could ever change moods that quickly!" Timmy exclaimed, ruffling his hair with one hand as he tried to figure it out.

"Erm, we have no idea where she's from!" Bloom gave an awkward laugh. "But I'm sure she's nice once we get to know her!"

"Hey guys, are we gonna go eat food or what?" Serena demanded, noticing the lack of movement in the group.

"Well what else would we eat?" Musa laughed as everyone walked over to her. Luckily she didn't see the blonde's shifty smile.

Moments later the large group was seated at an outside table in one of the best restaurants in Magix, next to a television store. The specialists were very interested in Serena's back-story although the Winx were a little more cautious of what to say to her as they were worried one false move would send her into another crying session. However they all sighed with relief as she answered everyone's questions in her usual friendly manner in between chewing on slices of pizza.

"Mmm yumminous! This is the best pizza ever!" She exclaimed, munching on her precious food.

"So Serena, did you say you liked to draw?" Helia asked curiously.

"What? Oh yeah, it's about one of the only things I'm actually good at! I don't really like sports or math –bleea! But I like home economics, fashion and art classes. I even designed the pattern for my hoodie and someone Mina Chan knew works in a screen printing place so I got it specially made for free!" She stood up to show everyone the sweater she'd just thrown on before getting on the coach with the others. It was a black and white hooded pinstripe with the image of a large black key painted on the front where her chest was, as if it hung from a chain around her neck like a necklace. She then turned around so everyone could see the spiky black 6 in the middle of her back.

"Wow, how did you come up with that?" Bloom asked, impressed.

"And those stripes are so couture!" Stella gushed. "Although I'd go for something a little more colorful myself…"

"Oh it's just based on a …character from a film that I really like! I have some for the other characters too but this one's my favorite, I think they're just so adorable!" Serena gave a fan girl squeal.

"Maybe I could get the DVD when I next visit my parents." Bloom pondered.

When all the pizzas had been digested Stella helpfully reminded the specialists that it was their turn to pay for the meal and sent them off to get the bill. Serena felt a painful pang in her chest, a pang that seeing these girls with their boyfriends reminded her every second that she wasn't with hers.

"Darien," She whispered.

"Hey, cheer up Serena!" Layla put a hand on her shoulder. "It isn't that bad being away from your guy! I mean look at me! No guys, no problem!"

"But don't you want to find a boyfriend?" Serena asked her. "Surely there are loads of cute guys where the others go to school!"

"No way!" Layla shook her head firmly. "I'm way too busy for all that romantic stuff! I guess you could say I'm kinda a free agent!" However the blonde detected an edge of sadness to her tone, as if something had forced her opinion on her.

"Layla, what's wrong? Is something bothering you?" She asked with a look of caring concern.

Meanwhile Tecna had spotted a rustling movement behind them and had sent her ladybug-scanning device to investigate. It hovered back to her and clipped itself into her computer.

Serena shifted slightly to get a closer look at Tecna's little computer screen. She and the Technology fairy could see a clear un-pixilated image of a young man in his late teens hiding behind a bush, which in turn was behind them.

"Ok I saw the picture, come out over here creepy good-looking stalker man!" She announced loudly, pointing at the bush.

The man crept out with an embarrassed grin that seemed somehow aimed at Layla. Her breath caught for a minute when she saw how handsome he was, but remembering her current predicament quickly shook her head; jolting it out of her mind.

"What's your problem!" She snapped. "You think it's cool to spy on people's private conversations?"

"What? No I just thought I'd …erm seen you, somewhere before." He told her.

"Well you thought wrong!" The Princess of Tides yelled as she firmly turned her back on him.

"How can I boycott guys when my parents are picking out someone for me to marry?" She asked herself quietly.

"Now who are you?" Serena asked as she looked at the young man suspiciously.

"Oh, um my name," The man said as he put his right hand behind his head and smiled at everyone, "My name is Ophir."

"Why did you stutter when you said your name?" Tecna asked as she looked at the man.

"It was just that there are so many beautiful women in front of me." Ophir said as he smiled again.

"Citizens of Magix." Suddenly all the television screens in the neighboring building crackled into static and the previous programme became replaced by an image of a man with long red blond hair and in Victorian style clothes. All their eyes widening at the sight, the fairies and the specialists immediately ran over to take a closer look, closely followed by many terrified locals. Serena stood paralyzed with fear as she caught sight of the cold cruel glint in his light blue eyes.

"Baltor!" She thought she heard Bloom give a low growl.

"Citizens of Magix." The commanding masculine voice sounded out through the entire city. "I am after the Ancestress eye which resides in the Magix museum. You have just ten minutes to vacate the area before I come for it. And don't even think of putting up a fight."

With that his image disappeared from view as the TV screens turned fuzzy, although for some reason did not go back to their original programmes.

"OMS! Who was that guy?" Serena panicked, stepping from side to side frantically.

Bloom took a deep breath. "He's called Baltor and he's a dangerous escaped criminal from the Omega dimension."

"Oms?" Layla looked quizzical.

"Oh my Serenity," Serena told her in one quick breath before reverting back into panic attack. "But WHAAT? WHY THE HELL DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME THERE WAS SOME EVIL GUY PROWLING AROUND HERE HUH? I COULD BE BACK AT HOME WITH MY FRIENDS! I COULD BE PLAYING SAILOR V VIDEO GAMES! I COULD BE HANGLIDING OVER THE WEST INDIEEEES!"

"Sky, you and the others look after Serena and get everyone away from the museum!" Bloom called. "We'll go and stop Baltor!"

"But Bloom its too dangerous…" Her boyfriend began but he was silenced when she grabbed his hand and smiled.

"I'll be fine." She told him. "I am an Enchantix fairy now!" The red head gave a quick wink as she and the others ran off in the direction of the building that would soon be under attack.

Once the six fairies made it to the building they stood by a wall to catch their breath. Unbeknownst to them Serena had followed them and was now peering out from behind a tree, wondering what it was they were going to do.

"Ok girls." Bloom grinned determinedly.

"LET'S GO ENCHANTIX!"

At once the girls' civilian outfits were replaced with multicolored skimpy garments, glittery translucent gloves, intricate barefoot sandals and large butterfly wings on their backs. Each of their heads were decorated with a different kind of tiara except for Bloom who had a pair of blue heart shaped barrettes on either side of her head.

"Whoa," Serena gasped. "Will I get a transformation like that if I go to Alfea? I thought my eternal Sailor henshin was the most powerful it was gonna get! But then again eventually I'll become Neo Queen Serenity soon."

Realizing she had been lost in her own thoughts she looked up and saw that they had disappeared down a staircase.

"Damn it!" She cursed under her breath. "I'll have to follow them, hopefully this Balto doesn't have any ugly goons lurking around because I really don't need a goopy slime facial right now!"

In the middle of the museum Tecna produced her computer, which provided her with a 3D hologram of the surroundings.

"The guards have moved the Ancestress eye into the vault." She confirmed.

"But I don't understand," Bloom reasoned. "Why would Baltor give us a warning? Surely if he hadn't told us what he wanted he would have been able to get to it easier without all the added security guards!"

"Wait a minute," Tecna's eyes widened upon discovering a vital piece of information. "It says here that the object that holds the Ancestress eye is a powerful article itself! The Agador box! It is said to be able to contain large amounts of spells all at the same time, girls I don't think Baltor even wanted the eye in the first place!"

All six looked at each other as it dawned on them.

"We've gotta get to the box before the Trix do." Bloom told them urgently.

Creeping as quietly as she could down a corridor Serena was trying to stay as calm as she possibly could. Given that she was trying to hide from a dangerous escaped convict who she had known absolutely nothing about until five minutes ago and that she hadn't exactly been composed when fighting villains she had known a little about, this wasn't easy.

"Okay Serena!" She told herself in a tone that came out all high-pitched. "Get it together, you have to hide from a serial killer and his wacky henchmen or they'll kill you! But you can do this right? You can do stealth mode! Hell, you even managed to convince Raye you could do stealth mode! Just remember that time when you reenacted the MSA step up prank!"

**Flashback**

_Raye is being filmed walking around Shibuya, the crown fruit parlor and the park while Serena and Mina are street dancing behind her, coincidentally Mina is wearing the stripy hoodie and Serena is wearing a white one that has a seven on the back._

_Raye is in a department store shopping for clothes. Serena and Mina come out of the lift behind her and start break dancing and doing the moonwalk. _

_Serena and Mina are sneaking into the temple and proceed to dance around in her bedroom. Mina gets out some fish from her backpack and places them under some loose floorboards in the outside area of the shrine. Phobos and Deimos spy the movements and swoop down ready to attack. However the Senshi of Venus is well prepared and throws crow food at them. As the birds are distracted, the girls jump away into the bushes._

**End Flashback**

"I still can't remember how we managed to get Ami to film that." She sighed. She propped her back against the wall and prepared to sit down but a sudden gust of wind and blur of color caught her in the eye. Startled she could just make out three women dressed in dark red, blue and purple who seemed to be flying straight down the hallway.

"Huh?" The teen rubbed her eyes. "Who were those weirdoes? And why are they going that way" Then she gasped. "They must be working for that Balto! They've gotta be, only evil people would wear those creepy outfits! But then if they're going that way then… the girls have been tricked! I've got to stop him getting what he's really after!"

With that she started running in the trio's direction.

"Oms!" She thought excitedly. "I just figured out enemy motives AND decided to go after them ON MY OWN!" She looked up to the ceiling. "I hope you're proud of me Ami Chan!"

**German airport**

"Guten Tag Fraulein Mizuno," An air steward took the bluette's bag from her. "Hatten Sie einen guten Flug?"

Suddenly Ami felt a warm feeling sweep over her, as if something great had just happened.

"Huh? Oh, ja es war toll! Danke!" She quickly turned to face the assistant.

"_Thank you Serena,"_ She thought as she followed him to her taxi. _"For showing how brave and smart you've become. Wherever you are, I'm proud of you!"_

**Back to the Magix museum**

When the guardian of the Moon arrived at a room she hid behind the door to see the three strange women standing in front of a golden box. The one in the middle had conjured a sheet of ice that was floating in mid-air. She had long white hair tied up in a high ponytail and a dark blue suit with a matching cape and fingerless gloves, which showed off her sharp indigo talons, and appeared to be the leader of the trio as she was barking orders at the other two.

"Darcy get it onto the ice platform quickly and don't drop it!" She sighed irritably while the one wearing purple (who Serena guessed was Darcy) was using purple energy waves to lower the object onto the surface.

"Ha! This was so easy!" The third girl in dark red laughed triumphantly. "I wonder why Baltor thought it was gonna be difficult to get this!"

"Because of fairies like us!" A hot golden blast of energy shattered the Ice surface, although fortunately it landed on what looked like a baseball glove. ("Where the hell did that come from?" Serena yelled inwardly.)

"The girls!" She gasped as she caught sight of the familiar fairies in defiant battle stances.

"You're not taking the Agador box Icy, we're here to stop you!" Bloom addressed the white haired girl with such venom in her voice that Serena took a startled step back from where she was standing.

"It wouldn't be a proper mission if I didn't have some quality time with my favorite fairy loser!" Icy smirked and sent a shoal of ice darts in Bloom's direction with a wave of her manicured hand.

"Look out!" Flora quickly pushed her red haired friend aside and crushed the cold weapons with her green glittery magic. "Spring has sprung!"

"Well if it's spring then here's an April storm!" The maroon girl conjured a huge tornado, which threw Musa and Stella to the floor in a direct hit.

"Stormy! No one told you to do that! Just get Baltor's damn box!" Icy yelled at her.

Once again Bloom had to somersault out of the way as the man that Serena recognized from the TV screens teleported into view.

"Well well Bloom I see that you managed to get your Enchantix," He smirked, eyeing her floaty turquoise mini dress.

"Yes I did Baltor! And I'm gonna use it to defeat you!" The fire fairy spat. "Dragon fury!" She shot two fireballs at him, one after the other. However he casually flipped one aside and destroyed the other in the palm of one hand. Bloom gasped at the actions.

"How about we take this outside?" He asked as he produced his own fireball although this one seemed somewhat darker than Bloom's.

"Come and get me Baltor!" She shouted as she flew off into a gallery, Baltor hot on her heels.

As soon as they were gone Icy turned to the remaining members of the Winx club with a nasty grin.

"I guess that means we take care of you!" She told them.

"I've got to help!" Serena thought anxiously. She crouched down on the floor and pulled out her golden brooch.

"After all," She thought on realizing her hands were shaking slightly. "I've defeated chaos itself, surely you don't get any darker than that?"

Meanwhile a heated battle was gradually hotting up between the six fairies and the three witches.

"SOLARIAN SUNBEAM!" Stella hit Darcy full in the front with a strong sunlight attack, sending the dark witch sprawling to the floor.

"PIERCE ATTACK!" Icy hurled a flurry of ice crystals at Layla, who effortlessly broke them with a morphix surfboard.

"Argh! TWISTER FURY!" Stormy created a strong cyclone, catching Tecna from behind.

"Tecna!" Musa ran to help her up but her wings were frozen by Icy.

Stella, Tecna, Musa, Flora and Layla were so busy trying to dodge the oncoming attacks that they didn't see Darcy was secretly crawling along the floor towards the Agador box.

MOON PIZZA ACTION!" Suddenly a soft identified flying object sailed through the air and splattered all over Icy's face.

"AAAAAAAGHHHH!" She began screeching shrilly and started rolling around on the floor, flapping her arms around wildly with a whole segment resting on her head and a pepperoni covering one of her eyes. She also had a rather fetching beard made of melted cheese.

Despite being extremely confused as to where the edible weapon had come from, the Winx burst into laughter. Stella's face was pink from laughing, Tecna got out her video camera and filmed it but she was laughing so hard she couldn't hold the camera straight, Musa was clutching her stomach because it hurt a lot, Layla had to make herself a Morphix chair because she couldn't stand, Flora giggled lightly and tried to cover her mouth with her hands. Even Darcy and Stormy had fallen to the floor from laughter.

High up on the windowsill the sender of the object was letting out high ringing laughter.

"This is even better than the time I did this to Mina chan!" She exclaimed in between giggles.

**Flashback**

_Serena: MOON MUSHROOM MAGIC!_

_Mina: AIEEE!_

_Serena: Yay! Direct hit!_

**End of Flashback**

"What is going on here?" The sudden demand made her turn back to the museum room to see that Baltor had returned and was looking from the Winx to the Trix in confusion and irritation; which probably meant that he had been unsuccessful in catching Bloom, which made her give a small sigh of relief. She could also see that the fairy in question had reappeared and was poising herself to attack him, as were the other girls. Icy was angrily picking pieces of pineapple and tomato out of her hair and putting them in her mouth when she thought no one was looking.

"Convergence attack…" Bloom began but before their spell could take any effect Baltor quickly conjured up a giant hand that shot at Layla.

However before it could grasp her Ophir jumped in front of the Morphix fairy, resulting in him being caught instead.

"Layla I suggest you hand over the box or he's history!" He shot his signature-infuriating smirk at them to know that he had the upper hand once more.

Layla stared sadly at Ophir writhing inside the giant hand, faced with a terrible dilemma.

"Don't do it Layla!" Tecna cried. "It could be a trick!"

"But what if it's not?" Flora wondered worriedly.

"MOON PIZZA ACTION!"

However all of them were saved from making the terrible decision when a second pizza was hurled into their midst, though this time it hit Baltor, breaking his control over the hand and releasing Ophir who fell to the floor in exhaustion.

"ARGH! WHO DID THAT?" The dark wizard yelled furiously, shaking his head from side to side to try and dislodge melted cheese from his once immaculate hair, which as a result was dripping down his burgundy jacket and onto his boots.

"Not so fast!" A sudden burst of light filled the room as a window burst open. Everyone could see the figure of a young girl with white feathery wings and a very unusual hairstyle standing on the ledge. Her fuku had an indigo sailor collar and a skirt that had many layers in gold, pink and blue. Her white, red-rimmed gloves matched her knee high boots and a golden crescent moon glinted on her forehead. However a pointy white mask was over her eyes, preventing them from identifying her.

"This museum is full of many treasures," She began as she struck a pose. "And I won't let you steal them and use them against the universe! Not only that you made me waste good food and for that I can't forgive you! I am Eternal Sailor Moon and on behalf of the moon…" She pointed her gloved fingers at Baltor and the Trix. "I will punish you!"

"It was you?" Icy looked up. "YOU'LL PAY FOR MESSING UP MY HAIR MEATBALL HEAD!" She shrieked wildly at the mysterious masked warrior.

"Agh! WHO YOU CALLING MEATBALL HEAD!" Eternal Sailor Moon yelled at her.

"You!" Icy shot back.

"OH, IT IS ONNN!" Sailor Moon stuck her pink tongue out and blew a loud raspberry at the Ice witch, who in turn stuck her own tongue out.

"PFFTTT!"

"PFFTTT!"

"Icy…" Darcy began but…

"FROZEN PRISM!" Icy exploded.

As a result of her command the room was immediately frozen by a burst of freezing cold energy and the fairies and Ophir were encased in Ice. When the mist subsided Baltor and the Trix were nowehere to be seen.

"Oh no!" Sailor Moon gasped, jumping down from the ledge to get a closer look. She could see that all her new friends were frozen solid! Bloom might have a special fire but as far as the Senshi knew, not even she would be able to escape on her own once trapped. She tried making indents in the ice with her fingers, however as soon as she touched the surface had to draw her hand back straightaway, crying out at how cold it was.

"How can I set them free?" She asked herself in frustration. Then the obvious occurred to her.

"Of course my scepter!" she gave an embarrassed giggle as she produced it, only glad the others especially Raye were not around to witness her "blonde moment".

"STARLIGHT HONEYMOON THERAPY KISS!" She called as soft silver moondust emerged from her scepter and melted the ice.

When Bloom and the others awoke the first thing they saw was that they were all laying in a large cold puddle. They quickly got up in alarm and shook any remaining snow off their wings, looking around for their opponents.

"So you finally woke up!"

Startled, they looked to the window ledge to see Sailor Moon had resumed her position there, a relieved smile on her sugar pink lips.

"Who are you?" Stella asked her curiously.

"Why I'm Sailor Moon of course! You're doing a great job protecting this city, keep it up!" The girl winked before flying off into the sunlight.

The girls stared in amazement for a few minutes before Layla suddenly turned around, her blue eyes wide.

"Wait, where's Ophir! He's gone!" she exclaimed.

"He must have done a runner when the ice melted!" Musa was inspecting the destroyed structures that had held them prisoner only moments ago.

"And he's not the only one who's disappeared!" Tecna was looking anxiously in the direction of an empty podium.

"So has Baltor, and he's taken the Agador box!"


	7. the afternoon after

Once they had adjusted to the situation, the fairies decided that the best thing to do was to rendezvous with the guys at their meeting point.

"Bloom! Are you all ok?" Sky came running up to them anxiously followed by the other specialists.

"But shouldn't we keep looking for-" Timmy whispered before Riven grabbed his shoulder.

"We're fine, I think." Bloom told him. "Did everyone get away from the museum?"

"Erm… well-" "We did but what happened in there?" Helia asked as he shifted closer to Flora, exchanging a glance with Timmy.

"Yeah all we saw was a ton of explosions and then Baltor and the Trix flying away with something!" Brandon added.

"Wait a minute did that mean that he got the Ancestress eye?" Sky's eyes widened.

Bloom shook her head sadly. "No but that's only because it wasn't what he was after in the first place! He was after the Agador box, and… and he got it."

"Bloom I'm sure it wasn't your fault!" Sky told her firmly, catching the look of anxiety in her eyes. "You must have fought extremely hard and tried your best to protect everyone!"

"He's right Bloom." Layla nodded. "Baltor tricked us!"

"Maybe that Ophir guy should have done the explaining, since it was his fault!" Tecna added.

"Tecna's right." The princess of Tides cemented her argument.

However the Specialists had all noticed the confused looks their girlfriends had been sending each other ever since they had come back from the battle.

"Something happened in there didn't it?" Riven said, it was more of a statement than a question.

Musa shot him an annoyed glare but sensing that it would be better for the guys to be in the know she decided to share what had been on all of their minds.

"We were fighting the witches when suddenly this strange girl showed up out of nowhere!" She explained. "We've got no idea who she was or where she came from but if she hadn't shown up we'd have been toast!"

At that precise moment Serena had eventually caught sight of the group and had been walking up to join them. However as soon as she heard the turn of their conversation she jumped back to hide behind a wall, thinking it wasn't wise to reveal herself just yet.

"We don't even know if she's a fairy!" Tecna added. "Her outfit was quite unusual, and her wings were unlike anything I've ever seen before!"

"But she did throw a pizza at Baltor!" Stella reminded them all. "Surely that must mean she's on our side right?"

"Wait a minute, you're telling me that some girl just defeated a dangerous wizard…by throwing a pizza at him?" Riven exclaimed, looking incredibly incredulous.

"So now you don't believe us?" Musa raised her eyebrows considerably, and her voice.

"Of course we believe you girls," Sky hastily clarified. The others quickly nodded from their positions behind him.

"I think we should go back to Alfea." Tecna announced. "I want to see if I can find any information on this Sailor Moon and find out who she really is."

"Good idea!" Stella brightened. "It's been a long day and I think we all need some R and R to get our spirits up! Now how about you guys go get Serena and then we can grab a coach?"

"Erm, ok!" Now the awkward looks the specialists were shooting at each other were becoming more and more obvious to the girls.

"Well? Where is she?" Layla asked coolly.

"Erm, we…sort of, lost her?" Timmy squeaked.

"TIMMY!" Sky, Brandon, Riven and Helia yelled.

"YOU LOST HER?" Bloom and Stella exclaimed in unison.

"Relax, we'll find her!" Brandon desperately tried to reassure them.

"Where did she go, we told you to keep an eye on her!" Bloom looked at Sky accusingly.

"We did! But she disappeared right after you left!" He cried. "We've looked everywhere ever since!"

"Maybe she caught a coach back to Alfea!" Flora suggested.

"Impossible," Riven shook his head. "After Baltor made his message none of the coaches left Magix. Everyone was too busy trying to find somewhere safe."

However unknown to them, the very topic of their discussion was right around the corner of the café and hiding behind a wall, eavesdropping on their conversations.

Tecna was lightly tapping her forehead with one finger, which her friends knew meant that she was trying to process every single obscure theory on Serena's whereabouts through her computer-like brain.

"Hmm, she could also be a spy for Baltor along with Ophir!" She suggested after several short minutes.

"What?" This caused the others to look at her incredulously. Serena too gasped in a mixture of bewilderment and slight anger that the pinkette had jumped to this conclusion when in reality she had been helping them.

"I mean think about it!" The fairy of Technology continued, completely oblivious to the extra listener. "She says she came from Earth- a planet which has no magic, yet she knew she had magical powers otherwise she wouldn't be here, she appears to have no knowledge of what Baltor has done- something I think is highly illogical seeing as hermits would still at least know who he is, Baltor needs a way to get Alfea's spells but he can't get through the barrier, and also we've never seen her transform so we don't know if she could actually be a fairy!"

"That is true." Musa finally admitted. "She could be one of the witches Baltor's controlling, though we've never seen her before…"

"The cat!" Stella shrieked in recollection, clasping both sides of her face with her hands. "I said she could be a witch, she had a black cat! Remember? REMEMBER?" Her tone became increasingly high-pitched as she stared her five friends in the face, wanting them to remember too.

"Hmm," Bloom's eyebrows narrowed as she considered the possibility. " I don't think Luna has anything to do with it, you've been watching too many of my Earth DVDs."

"_Argh what the hell?"_ Serena was inwardly seething. _"Do I look like one of those fashion-challenged freaks we fought in that museum? I don't have an attitude problem and I would never wear gross purple eye shadow under my eyes!"_

"Wait a second, I'm sure she wouldn't do something like that," Flora tried to reason while Helia nodded in agreement.

"And with all due respect she didn't look like the witchy type!" Brandon added.

"Yeah she'd be too much of a crybaby! She probably ran away as soon as the going got tough! " Stella snorted unkindly.

That was the final straw for Serena. Zipping up her hoodie a little more tightly round her neck she turned away from the group and started to run in the opposite direction- her golden hair trailing out behind her like two huge ribbons.

"Hey! Please stop this!"

Everyone turned to see who had just made the sudden outburst. All eyes widened as they came to rest on Flora.

"I know you're all feeling bad that Baltor won today but you can't blame Serena! She only just arrived here today and has just realized that Magix is a dangerous place to be! Maybe she didn't even know what her power is, which is why she came to Alfea. We have achieved a lot of power as fairies and it's our responsibility to help her develop hers! And instead you're all blaming everything on her! You're acting like…" She faltered for a second as if the words were difficult to say. "…Like witches!"

There was a large silence among the group as everyone realized where the conversation had been heading.

"You're- you're right Flora." Bloom replied shakily. "I-I can't believe we just brought her into this argument, and she probably does have nothing to do with it! And I of all people should have been trying to help her understand everything before flying off to fight Baltor!"

"Man, she hasn't been to Magix before and we abandoned her just like that!" Musa was equally mortified.

"First things first, we've gotta find her and make sure she hasn't been hurt!" Layla announced urgently.

"Do you need our help?" Sky asked.

Bloom sighed. "No, its ok guys. You can go back to Red Fountain, we were the ones who were supposed to look after her so we have to sort it out on our own." She told them.

After waving goodbye to the guys (and Stella protesting that the search could have been more fun with them) Tecna produced her computer from her pocket.

"If I can locate her magical energy it should be much easier to find her!" She explained, typing in various codes with one hand while balancing the gadget in the palm of the other.

However every time she tried to access the information the screen distorted into millions of silver pixels, completely blocking the monitor.

"What? It's never done that before!" The pinkette cried frustratedly.

"Maybe it needs recharging," Musa suggested.

Nonetheless after a few hours of leaving the machine on charge in a nearby Internet café (Stella dragged them all on a shopping spree to pass the time) there was still no change.

"I don't get it!" Tecna frowned. "Its as if something is blocking her magic!"

"We should be going back, it's beginning to get dark out!" Flora surveyed the surroundings to see people closing up their shops for the night.

"I just hope she made it back ok!" Bloom said as they went in search of a coach.

xxx

Once the blonde young woman was sure she had run as far away from the girls as possible she allowed herself to open her wallet and see her friends smiling faces once again.

"Oh girls! How am I gonna survive without you?" Serena wailed, pressing her back against a tree. "I know I'm clumsy and I don't like scary things but at least I was with you who liked me for who I was! And what did I get myself into by coming here? At least you are all far away from here and won't get hurt by that guy and those three witches so that's a good thing! But it' still…"

She gently closed the purse and buried her face in her knees, trying to hide from the rest of the world.

Suddenly she heard some kind of ruffling sound above her head like something flapping its wings.

"Please don't cry," Said a soft little voice that made Serena look up, startled. Three small beings, each one wearing unique outfits were hovering in front of her with little glowing wings of many different colors. The one who had spoken had long red hair, which was decorated with roses to match her pink gown.

"AAAHHH!" Serena squealed, shuffling backwards as fast as she could until she hit her back against the tree. When she finally stopped scrabbling with her feet her expression became haunted with realization.

"I'm sorry Raye chan I'll never take your special tea without your permission ever again!" She sniffed.

"Are you alright?" The miniature fairy flew closer to her.

"Erm…" Serena sat, paralyzed in her position, with only the twitch in her left eye showing any signs of movement. "I don't think I'm qualified to answer that question if my hallucinations are the ones asking me!"

"I don't quite understand what you mean by that but I can assure you we are real!" The second one to speak was wearing a bright blue ball gown with a matching ribbon pinning back her candyfloss colored ringlets.

"Uh uh! Floating chibis don't exist except in Shugo Chara and other animes!" Serena said in a high-pitched tone, shaking her head vigorously.

"Well technically…" Some bored looking fat guy with a small ponytail and a baggy blue T-shirt that said "worst. Episode. Ever" began.

"SHUT UP!" She yelled; making him run away as quickly as possible, although considering his size it wasn't fast.

"Did he have yellow skin?" Serena wondered, squinting her eyes slightly before turning back around. "Well if your not chara chibis, what are you?" She asked, studying each one closely with a wide-eyed perplexed expression.

"We're pixies!" Exclaimed the tallest pixie with long blonde bunches. She flew up to Serena to get a closer look.

"Wow! I love your hairdo; I've never seen one like that, I want one too! But the top part looks like meatballs!" She cried excitedly.

"Chatta! It's not polite to comment on a girl's haircut!" The posh looking one frowned, before making a curtsey from her position in mid air.

"My, I can't believe how rude I was!" She exclaimed, "My name is Tune, I am the pixie of good manners. These are Chatta and Amore. I'm sorry please excuse Chatta's rude behaviour, she tends to get a little excited when meeting new people."

"Oh don't worry about that! I do too!" Serena giggled a little despite her current state of sadness. "Oh my names Serena, Serena Tsukino."

"Do you go to Alfea?" Chatta asked curiously. " Which realm are you from? I've never seen you before!"

"Huh? Oh I just arrived at Alfea today, but where I come from there aren't any fairies or pixies or anything. It's great though, I've got five really cool friends there- who… couldn't be here with me although I think they'd like to have come. I'd certainly liked them to have come…" Her words were cut short as a little sob caught in her throat.

"Oh! Your heart is hurting! I can sense it!" Amore said anxiously.

"You're right about that." Serena nodded sadly, lowering her head so that her chin almost folded into her chest. "Sorry, I'm feeling pretty low right now and I don't think its just teleport-lag. I think I'm gonna try and find the way back to the Alpha school, maybe try and do some packing seeing as I don't really understand why I was sent here in the first place!"

"Wait, don't do that!" Amore gasped anxiously.

"You just got here!" Chatta added sounding equally perplexed.

"You should at least give Magix a chance before dismissing it!" Tune reprimanded.

Their words made Serena look up with a determined smile. "You know what? You're right! No one gets this chance every day and I'd like to do some sightseeing!" Then she turned to face the pixies. "Now do you have any ideas on where to start?"

"We can take you to Pixie village!" Tune offered. "It will give you a chance to meet all of our friends and we can tell you some useful information about Alfea!"

"Sure! I'd love to go!" The blonde teen replied happily.

"Just follow us and we'll show you the way!" Chatta pulled on one of the girl's pigtails, gesturing for her to go along.

After what seemed like a millennia to Serena but what was actually half an hour they arrived at a secluded clearing in the forest surrounding the city of Magix.

Wow! Serena gasped, looking around in amazement. "Its all so pretty! And they have cute little houses and everything!" She squealed at the sight before her.

"Welcome back Amore, Tune, Chatta." A green haired pixie in long yellow robes flew up to greet them. "You are just in time for afternoon tea!"

"Goody!" Chatta cheered loudly. "I'm starving!"

Choosing to ignore her Amore and Tune turned back to the Elder pixie. "We brought a new friend with us. She has just started at Alfea." Amore explained.

"Ooh!" Serena came over to get a closer look at the tiny woman. "You're all so cute! I wanna take you hooome!" Her deep sapphire gems sparkled with excitement as she clasped her hands together.

"Why thank you." The pixie smiled. "I am Ninfea, the elder Pixie and welcome to Pixie village!"

"Thanks! It's beautiful here!" The Moon princess bowed politely.

Suddenly she felt something small bump into her back, which made her quickly turn around to face whatever it was. When she did she gasped at the sight of a little pixie with deep amber eyes, which in turn became fixated on her. The pixie had two light orange puffs on either side of her head with long yellow strings trailing out from each one, which made Serena think of her own unique style. She wore puffy orange shorts with stripes of yellow and yellow fan-like wings.

"You're beautiful!" The strange little creature burbled softly.

"And you're so adorable!" Serena gushed, looking love-stricken. She had no idea why she was feeling like this but she couldn't believe how cute this pixie was!

"Glim! Pixie of fireflies!" The orange pixie pointed to herself.

"I'm Serena! My powers are from the moon!" The blonde girl told her.

"I see you have found your destined pixie," Said Ninfea smiling.

"My what now?" Serena asked, confused.

"You see a fairy and her destined pixie bond at first sight." The elder pixie explained. "They remain soul mates for life."

"Oh, er ok!" Serena giggled, holding the back of her head sheepishly. "I just arrived at Alfea today, I guess you could say I'm kinda new to the whole… Magix… dimension-thingy!"

"Oh that's quite alright, a lot of fairies that go to Alfea have been restricted to their own realms," Ninfea informed her. "So how are you finding Magix? I hope you have found some friends!"

Serena's expression clouded over. "I wouldn't say that! There were a few girls who seemed nice at first, but now they all think I'm a crybaby! I mean give me a break! I've never been to this place before and then suddenly there's this creepy Goth guy who attacks some museum, and now they all think I ran away when in reality…" In the nick of time she managed to stop herself from blurting out her secret identity. She was sure that the pixies seemed nice enough but for once listening to Luna's advice about keeping it a secret seemed the better thing to do.

"What?" Ninfea asked, surprised. "But all the Alfea students I've met are lovely young ladies! Tell me, who were these girls?"

"Well," Serena began as Glim hopped onto her shoulder. "One of them had long orange hair and I think she said she had fire powers…"

"Bloom?" Ninfea gasped.

"Yeah that was her name! And her friends and their boyfriends all ganged up on me!" Serena continued angrily.

"But Bloom wouldn't do that!" Another little voice made Serena turn to look at the other miniature girls. The one closest to her was a pixie in a light pink dress and had a bob haircut. She had long blue wings with swirls at the end a matching hairclip.

"Neither would Stella," Amore looked worried.

"I'm sure I told Musa that it's not nice to spread gossip!" Tune remarked.

"My girl Flora would never ever say anything bad about someone!" Exclaimed Chatta.

"Calm down Chatta!" Exclaimed the last one, with dark blue hair and a silver scanner on her wrist. But she, like the pixie of gossip couldn't resist flying up to Serena's hair and perched on her head.

"This style how is it even possible?" She wondered aloud, scanning the golden buns of hair with her wristwatch.

"Well sometimes I'm not possible," Serena told her matter-of-factly. It was sadly true; apparently a lot of people can't get over the fact that a blonde girl who likes eating and watching TV and hates scary things can also be the most powerful fighter in the Cosmos. "But yeah they did!"

"But surely it must have been a misunderstanding!" Ninfea was still astonished at the news.

"Maybe I can talk to Bloom, I'm sure she'd never want to hurt someone's feelings!" The pink haired pixie suggested, before turning back to Serena. "Oh I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Lockette, Bloom's bonded pixie."

"And I'm Digit, pixie of Nanotechnology and bonded to Tecna of Zenith!" Digit added. "Piff would introduce herself but she's been conked out over there for quite a while. But don't worry, she's the pixie of dreams so it's pretty much her normal behaviour pattern!" She pointed to the trunk of a tree where a baby pixie lay snoring softly, her head resting on one of the roots.

"So I can see!" Serena giggled, wiping her eyes a little.

Ninfea looked up at the blonde Moon Senshi.

"I just remembered, we were about to have some afternoon tea, would you like to join us?" She asked politely.

"It's made from the flower of life!" Chatta added.

"Sure!" Serena brightened. "I mean it's not like I'm going anywhere!"

"YAY!" The pixies cheered.

Throughout the afternoon Serena was able to relax and shake off the crazy events of the morning. She didn't question whether it was due to the special tea but she didn't really care because it tasted great, almost as good as Raye's sacred shrine tea.

Even though she wisely left out all the parts about her powers as a Moon Senshi all the pixies were extremely fascinated about her life on Earth with her friends. She also got to know some new little faces, Livi the forgetful pixie of messages, her sister Jolly the pixie of jokes and she couldn't help wondering if the other Sailor Scouts would ever find their own pixies as she thought that Zing, the hyper pixie of bugs would be a perfect match for Mina.

"I can tell that you love your friends very much," Amore said softly, her blue eyes shining happily at the amount of positive energy radiating from the girl. "And I also sense that you have a special someone in your life!"

Serena brightened a little. "Yes I do, his name is Darien, he's away at college right now but I'm still gonna call him every day so it doesn't seem like it!" She blushed slightly as she looked down at the golden heart shaped ring on the fourth finger of her left hand.

"True love is so beautiful!" Amore clasped her hands while Glim settled more comfortably against the girl's neck.

"I'm afraid I can't help but notice it seems to be getting a little late," Ninfea turned to observe the deep orange glow of the sunset worriedly. "It was really lovely to meet you Serena but I think you should be getting back to Alfea now!"

"You're right." Serena sighed, tiredly heaving herself up while trying to stifle a yawn. Then a huge sweat drop formed on her forehead due to her embarrassing realization.

"Erm, I don't think I know the way back!" She laughed sheepishly, holding the back of her head with one hand.

"Don't worry! I'm the pixie of portals and directions! I'll show you the way!" Lockette told her, producing her small blue key that had previously been a hairclip.

"We'll come with you!" Digit added. "I need to help Tecna download the latest file storage software!"

"Thank you!" Serena smiled warmly. "I mean it, I feel a lot better now!"

"I'm glad to hear it!" Ninfea was also happy. "Also, if you ever have any time, feel free to talk to Concordia, she resides in Alfea and I'm sure she'd be more than happy to help you out with anything!"

"Ok! See you around pixies!" Serena waved before turning around to follow Lockette and the others.

In about five minutes they had reached a sight that finally looked familiar.

"Wow, you really weren't kidding about being good with directions!" The Moon princess exclaimed as she found herself in front of the Alfea campus, although she felt a strange sense of déjà vu from the morning.

"Serena?" At the mention of her name she whirled around to see Bloom, Stella, Tecna, Musa, Flora and Layla looking at her in surprise.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!" Stella yelled right in her face. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED WE WERE? WE SPENT HOURS LOOKING FOR YOU!"

"Why would you care?" Serena narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, I heard what you said! Just because I don't live here like you doesn't mean I don't have a spine!"

"Wait, you heard everything?" Bloom gasped quietly.

"Yes I did! And so I don't take up your precious time I'm gonna get going now!"

"Wait, Serena," Bloom's words were to no avail as the blonde hurriedly sprinted past them into the building, her long strands of hair riding the wind behind her.

The pixies all looked sadly at the space she had once occupied. Then Glim decided to flitter off in her direction.

"Wait Glim, where are you going?" Chatta asked.

"Go with 'Rena!" The orange pixie replied.

Biting her lip, Flora turned to the others.

"Wait for me back at the dorm." She called before joining Glim.

Meanwhile Serena stormed into the single and pulled out her suitcase from under the bed, jolting her feline friend from a comfortable position on one of the pillows.

"So, how was your trip to Magix?" Luna asked, trying to make conversation. Then she realized what the girl was doing. "Wait, Serena what are you doing?" She asked, extremely confused.

"We're going home Luna." Serena told her sharply, in a manner that was extremely unusual for her. "I just can't do this right now."

"But we just got here!" The cat protested. "At least give this place a chance, it's not like you to give up so easily! I'm sure you'll adjust in a few days!"

"I DON'T WANT TO ADJUST! I JUST WANNA HAVE SOME TIME BEING A NORMAL TEENAGER WITH FRIENDS WHO I LOVE! CAN YOU UNDERSTAND THAT LUNA? Ooh! Oh…"

She bent over her half packed suitcase, the familiar scent of her perfume filling her nose and pricking her eyes.

"After all the times I've lost Darien, and I can't even see him. Luna, get us out I wanna go home…please."

"Serena," Luna sighed, padding over to her protégé. The girl grabbed her into a hug, burying her face in the feline's soft black fur.

_Knock knock. _

"Huh? What?" The sudden sharp sounds caused Serena to jump up from her slumped stance, with some of her clothes falling out of her bag and onto the floor in the process.

"Who's there?" She asked hurriedly, trying to smooth out the creases on her jumper in one hand, while tightly gripping Luna in the other.

"Serena? Can I come in?" The tentative voice of Flora replied from the other side of the door.

"Uff, ok." Serena sighed tiredly; after all if any of these girls wanted to try and talk to her she admitted Flora wouldn't be so bad.

Slowly she swung open the door to find the fairy of nature standing gingerly outside the room with Glim hovering near her shoulder.

"Serena, I understand if you don't want to talk to me right now-" She began hurriedly but the blonde cut her off.

"Its ok Flora," She sighed. "I know I am a bit of a crybaby and I know I hate fighting and scary things but please believe me I have absolutely no idea who this Balto is!"

"Of course you don't sweetie!" Flora put a comforting arm on her shoulder. "Everyone's just a little frustrated because we lost the battle today, but no one's mad at you, you know that right?"

"Yeah, I guess," Serena brightened slightly. She finally let go of Luna, who landed on her paws and curled herself around the girl's legs. However the blonde then moved back to her half packed luggage. "But I'm sorry I still don't really think this place is for me."

"But you can't go yet!" Flora protested. "Come with me, the others have something they want to say to you!" Flora took her hand and led her out into the dormitory corridor. Luna, interested in what was happening, decided to follow them.

When they entered one of the other bedrooms they found the five other fairies seated in the middle of the carpet. Once she had caught sight of her, Bloom got up and walked towards Serena.

"Serena, I'm sorry that we hurt your feelings." She clarified. "I'm just worried about what will happen with Baltor and I'm still confused about what happened in the battle. Anyway we're having a sleepover tonight and we'd love you to join us!" She held out a hand hesitantly. "We brought back some pizza!"

After a brief gap the group let out a cheer as Serena grabbed it, beaming from ear to ear.

"Apology accepted Bloom! Just let me get my jammies!"

A few minutes later the members of the winx club (plus Serena who was now wearing short pink pyjamas) and their pixies were happily engaged in a game of truth or dare. Eventually it came to Tecna who picked the Moon senshi.

"Ok Serena, truth or dare?" She enquired.

"Hmm…" For a moment the blonde was deep in thought. "Truth!" She called out, raising her arm in the air.

"Where were you this afternoon?" The princess of Zenith probed her.

"Well when I was in Magix I found three little pixies who were really nice to me!" Serena began. "Then they took me to their village where I met this little one who's just so sweet! I don't know what it is about her but I feel like she's a little sister!" Glim giggled and settled on top of her head.

"You found your bonded pixie? That's awesome!" Layla exclaimed.

"Right! Now I guess it's my turn!" Suddenly Serena's crystal blue gems glinted deviously in the light. "Soooo… Stella! Truth or dare?" She pointed to the other golden haired girl dramatically.

"I'm going to pick dare!" Stella replied confidently, if Ami, Raye or Lita had been there they would have all facepalmed for she had not yet realized what she was getting herself into.

Serena rummaged around in the small bag she had brought with her. "I dare you to wear this…" She pulled out a green and white striped scarf with a Slytherin logo and set it out in front of Stella. "With this!" The next object was a bright yellow Hufflepuff hat. "And these!" The third and fourth were a pair of stripy Ravenclaw fingerless gloves. "And let's not forget these!" For the last articles of clothing she slowly unfurled her fingers to reveal two radish-shaped earrings.

"A-all at the same time?" Stella stuttered, aghast. "But the colour schemes don't match up!"

"Where did you get all this Harry Potter stuff?" Bloom asked curiously, staring at the items as her Solarian friend slid them onto her body, hyperventilating dramatically every time she touched one of them.

"Me and my friends went on a tour of the studio." Serena told her. "But then Mina chan got kicked out of the gift shop!"

**Flashback**

_Mina is walking around the shop with a Cheshire cat-like grin, flashing her newly bought replica of Voldemort's wand (She was saying that __**everyone**__ bought Harry and Hermione's and she wanted to remain unique) She waltzes up to a shop assistant with the name "Chris" on his uniform._

_Mina: Hey Chris! Smeeeell my wand!_

_She then approaches someone named "Annie" Who is trying to stack shelves of pygmy puffs._

_Mina: Hey Annie! Smeeeell my wand!_

_She then decides to pursue a customer who unfortunately happens to have dyed his hair in favour of his beloved Weasley idols._

_Mina: Hey Ron! Smeeeell my wand!_

_All this time the other four girls are staring at her in disbelief from a corner of the café. Serena nonchalantly starts munching on her pile of chocolate frogs. _

_Raye: We don't know her!_

**End Flashback**

"I'm still surprised she wasn't banned from the rest of the studio!" Serena sighed to herself under her breath.

"Serena? I hope you're happy because I feel like some circus clown right now!" Stella squawked while Tecna secretly took a picture. "And for this I'm picking you again! Truth or dare!"

"Eek!" Even though she had already answered one truth Serena realized that picking a dare right now would not be safe for her. "Ok…another truth!"

"Hmm…" Now that she had to abandon the dangerous dare she had picked, Stella racked her brains to think of an equally difficult question. "How many boyfriends have you had?"

"Oh, just the one!" The Lunarian replied happily, twisting her ring around on her finger. "I mean Lita and I did have a crush on Andrew who works at the arcade, but he always had a girlfriend so there wasn't really anything in it. But there was always something special about Darien, even when he called me meatball head I still thought he was cute. And over the last few years we've discovered that we're really meant to be, you know? And I know that we'll always be together!" She smiled knowingly as she thought of their future kingdom and beautiful daughter.

"Will you ever bring him to Magix?" Flora asked.

"Yeah, we wanna meet him!" Stella added excitedly.

"Sure! I mean I don't know when he'll have some free time this semester but I really wanna show him this place, and my friends too!"

"Something to look forward to!" Musa brightened. "But in the meantime you can pick the next truth or dare!"

"Right." Serena didn't want to burst the bubbly atmosphere but she knew that she needed some answers. "This is kinda for all of you guys, and I think I have a right to know. Who is Balto?"

The winx exchanged worried looks with each other before all eyes came to rest on Bloom, who took a deep breath.

"Ok this isn't going to be easy but here goes," She began. "Balto**r** is a dark wizard who until recently was imprisoned in the omega dimension."

"Omega is an icy wasteland where the worst kind of criminals are sent." Tecna put in.

"But now he's escaped, and he's stealing the most powerful magic from all the realms in order to take over the entire Magical dimension." Bloom continued.

"Wait a sec, did-" Serena was about to speak but quickly shushed herself as she remembered that the others did not know she had been present at the battle.

"He is also being helped by three witches, Icy Darcy and Stormy." Musa's voice hardened. "We've fought them before and trust me you don't wanna get too close to them!"

"I can imagine!" Serena shuddered inwardly, recollecting the Ice witch's frosty temper.

"Hang on, doesn't Magix have some kind of police force or something? Couldn't they have stopped him?" She found another question.

"Yeah but he's getting too powerful for them." Layla shook her head sadly. "He attacked my planet first and almost destroyed it."

"Oh Layla I'm sorry," Serena bowed her head quietly.

"Its ok." The Princess of Tides smiled. "At least my realm's still intact. But I'm afraid we can't say the same for Bloom's!"

"Huh? Why?" Serena turned to the redhead, bewildered.

"Baltor was created by some of the most powerful and evil beings in history, the ancestral witches." Bloom explained. "You know how I told you my powers come from the dragon fire? Well so do his, only they come from a dark ember. Anyway, he and the ancestresses led the attack on Sparx and obliterated it. And he told me that he was the one to defeat my parents, Oritel and Miriam."

"Oh." Serena gasped quietly, this sad story was painfully similar to that of the Silver Millenium, where Queen Serenity had given up all of her power, and her life, to save her people from the clutches of Queen Beryl, and it made her all the more determined to help their cause.

"Serena? Are you ok?" Bloom had misinterpreted her silence. " I hope I didn't make you want to leave here or anything…"

"Are you kidding? You all seem nice, and I can't wait to get my powers even stronger!" Serena exclaimed. "And with pizza like this? Of course I'm staying!"

"Alright! Now let's get this party started!" Musa cheered as she summoned a couple of CDS with a flick of her wrist.

As the music started playing everyone got up and began to dance around the room. Stella grabbed a pillow and hurled it at Bloom, which ended up hitting Tecna. As a result the fairy of technology attempted to throw it in the opposite direction but accidentally hit Flora instead. This ended in a humongous pillow fight between the fairies.

"_Yup!"_ Serena thought, taking a sip of her soda as she watched the feathers flying. _"Even though there's a bad guy on the loose I think I'm gonna like it here!"_


	8. an

Hey guys, don't worry i am still continuing with the story, but thank you so much for all your reviews! :)

However it will be a long time before the next chapter is done so i'm leaving the preview up, enjoy!

xxx

"_Princess Serena"_

The warm clear voice rang out clearly into every crevice of the girl's sleeping mind, rousing her subconscious self.

"Huh? Who's calling me?" She wondered aloud, her thoughts echoing throughout the dark passageway. She'd definitely heard this person before, but it had been a while and she was drawing a blank.

Suddenly a pure white light shot out from above and illuminated the entire landscape, which Serena recognized as the ruins of the Moon kingdom. Dozens of tiny lights were floating around her in the air like little stars. Looking down at herself she could see that she was wearing her royal Lunarian gown.

"It's been a long time my daughter," She had to jump back slightly as a particularly bright beam before her materialized into the figure of a beautiful Queen, a proud smile etched on her face.

"Q-queen Serenity? Mother, is that really you?" Serena gasped.

"Yes it is Serena." Serenity smiled gently. "I have been watching over you all these years, you have gained much more power as a Sailor Scout than you ever had at the time of the Silver Millenium, yet you have shown compassion to those who have fought you and most importantly of all you have become the true guardian of the Silver Crystal, the most powerful object in existence. Princess Serenity, I am proud to call you my daughter."

"Mother!" Serena's Sapphire eyes filled with tears and she felt the older woman pull her into a soft hug, wrapping her long slender arms around her neck.

For a few moments Queen Serenity held her in total silence before she eventually pulled back to face her with a serious expression.

"Now do you know why you have been sent to Alfea?" She asked.

"Uh uh," Serena shook her head.

The silver haired woman walked over to the edge of the chipped balcony and stared up at the starry view above them. "I have seen a brief glimpse of the future where you and Darien will marry and rule the Earth and Moon together. But before you take the throne there is one magical form you must take if you are to handle the power, and it is a form like no other you have achieved."

"Huh? Is there another Sailor henshin after Eternal then?" Serena asked, completely confused with the situation.

Queen Serenity turned back to her. "No Serena, it is called the Enchantix. It is the final compulsory form of the princesses and warriors who come from planets that are not part of the Sailor alliance."

"Wait a minute, what's the Sailor alliance?" The moon princess asked, however as soon as the words escaped her lips she found the scenery slowly deteriorating and dissolving into fine grains of platinum dust, which swept around her skirt in soft swirls.

"Wait, mother!" She called desperately as her vision begun to darken, holding her arms in front of her face to shield herself from the powder. "How do I get an Enchantix?"

"_Just let the others show you the way,"_ Even though she couldn't see anything, her mother's words seemed to echo around her as if they too had been caught in the twister. _"But prepare to make a great sacrifice."_


	9. april fools! D

"AAAGH!" Serena cried out as she rolled out of her bed and landed on the hard floor with a thump. Feeling through her tangled hair for any sign of a lump she hauled herself up to get a good look at the time, the harsh glow of the alarm clock almost blinding her at first glance.

"1:30 AM?" She groaned. "How am I awake at this hour? And why was that dream so short? If I'd have had more time with Queen Serenity not only would I have gotten more answers but also some beauty sleep! It would have been win-win! And I really need to talk to the girls about this…"

Looking around the room and realizing that she was alone, Serena's cerulean eyes glinted in the light of the full moon at the prospect of finally checking in with her fellow sailors. As Stella seemed to have chosen to stay behind in one of the other dorm rooms to talk some more with her own clique the bedroom would be empty and she would not be disturbed.

Flexing her fingers determinedly the Moon Princess unzipped her pink laptop cover and pulled the smooth silver content out into the open. While the screen loaded the various desktop components she took to drumming her manicured fingers impatient little rhythm and started humming a catchy little tune that Raye had written for her as a birthday present and tribute to her Senshi self.

"_Fighting evil by moonlight, winning love by daylight,_

_Never running from a real fight, she is the one named Sailor Moon," _

However before she could open her facebook page a small screen swiftly slid out into view from the skype icon to reveal Mina flashing every one of her pearly whites.

"Mina chan?" She exclaimed delightedly.

"Hiya Usa-chaaan!" The blonde grinned back, waving one arm wildly in the air next to her. She appeared to be lying on her stomach on top of a bed in what Serena could only deduce was her hotel room.

"But how did you know I'd check in now?" Serena asked in mock amazement.

"Hmm, methinks we are the psychic ones in the team!" Mina stroked her invisible beard with a Dumbledore style expression. "But seriously I have some totally amazing good news that I've been just dying to tell you all evening! And I had to report back to our queen bee first didn't I?"

"Nice to see you know your orders," Serena smirked, moving her face closer to the screen. "So what've you got for me then? Did you get asked for any autographs yet?"

"Uggh no," The princess of Venus sighed before perking up again. "But you'll never guess who I ran into at the airport!"

Not waiting for an answer she shifted over slightly to make room for an extremely handsome boy with shoulder length blonde hair, who was wearing a large amount of gold jewelry. When he had finally got into a comfy position he peered closely into the webcam with a huge screen.

"Hi bunny!" He yelled, slightly distorting the volume control on the computer.

"Marik?" Serena gasped in surprise. "How come you're here?"

"I'm doing a tournament in LA this week," The Egyptian explained. "But then I am free to do whatever I want!"

"We're making a plan of everything we're gonna do!" Mina added excitedly. "Which means…" They looked at each other before exclaiming in unison,

"WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!"

"Whaa? Without me?" Serena wailed with a quivering lip. "You guys are mean!"

"Aww cheer up, we were going to bring you back some Minnie mouse ears!" Marik remarked. "Although you probably don't need them because your hair's kinda the same shape as Minnie mouse's ears, seriously I know you got your nickname from your love of rabbits but I think Bakura's hair looks more like bunny ears than yours does."

"Speaking of which, where is Florence anyway?" Serena scrutinized the screen looking for signs of the spirit of the millennium ring in the background. "Doesn't he always come with you as your…erm… second in command?" (She had learned the hard way not to refer to him as a sidekick).

"Nah he insisted on staying in Japan on 'important business', I think he said something about a knife game, whatever it is it's probably something boring! And British!"

**Domino city**

Everywhere was in chaos. People were running around screaming wildly and waving their arms around in the air, desperately trying to escape from the inky black abyss that had appeared in the town centre and was seeping into the streets. A terrifying laughter echoed throughout the area as a terrifying dinosaur like creature stomped around the shadows, devouring anyone in its path.

Elsewhere Bakura was sitting at his desk, calmly uploading his video of the knife game onto his YouTube account.

"I'd like to see anyone beat that!" He smirked in satisfaction as he watched himself handle the knife at top speed without breaking a sweat. "Of course they'd all fail, but that just makes it all the more entertaining!" As he leaned back on his chair he threw an indifferent glance in the direction of the window, which was displaying the outside disaster. "Say, I wonder if Popo's used all the shadow magic alterations I made to his Halloween costume yet?"

**Back to Alfea**

"So anyway, now that the big news ("ME!" Marik exclaimed) is out of the way," Mina ushered on the conversation, "What's the fairy school like?"

"Fairy school?" Marik looked at her in disbelief. "You told me she was going to

"It's cool I guess, but apparently I need to get a fairy transformation like this," Serena explained, placing some teen fairy magazine pages in front of her to show her friends.

"Whoa! How big are those wings?" Mina exclaimed. "Seriously can they fit through doors?"

Marik was examining each of the outfits. "Eww I don't like that one! I don't care what they say, that is not a real tan! I like that she's showing her midriff though, that's very nice, not sure about the headdress though."

"I think you'd like it here." Serena told him. "Almost everyone's outfit shows their stomach!"

"Hmm I still don't think any of these girls have as good a midriff as I do, that one's only slightly coming close. I'd like to have a midriff-off with that girl." He pointed at one of the models.

"Aw I wish you guys were here! All the girls as well in fact, we could have so much fun and….AAAGH!"

"TA-DAHH!"

The moon princess had spotted an extraordinary sight in the corner of the room. A bright pink pony with an extremely crazy hairdo had bounded out from under the bed and was now standing in a superhero pose, which was quite similar to Serena's as Sailor Moon.

"Hiya! Are you Serena? I heard you're fun! I'm pinkie pie!" The pony exclaimed excitedly, holding out her hoof. When Serena tentatively took it, she shook it up and down wildly while bouncing up and down.

"Oh, hi Pinkie pie! Yes my name is Serena, erm… what are you doing here again?" Serena rubbed an eye with her non-shaken arm. After all it was nearly 2 in the morning, was she seeing things? 

"I heard from some very good friends of mine you needed some cheering up!" Pinkie pie squealed, putting her hoof around the girl's shoulder. "And what better way to cheer up than to have a PARTY!"

_Con los terroristas!_

Abruptly without warning she jumped into the center of the room and started doing weird dance moves to some kind of remix that sounded really familiar. Serena just stood there in amazement for a few seconds…

_Do the Harlem shake!_

Suddenly the entire room had expanded to ten times its normal size, which was good because it was needed for the huge crowd of people who had appeared out of nowhere and had started doing weird dance moves to the jerky beat. To her surprise Serena found she recognized almost every single one in the room! The Inner Senshi and some other brightly colored ponies were party rocking next to a pony DJ with electric blue hair, The Outer Senshi and some of the Yugioh cast were doing the thriller, she was pretty sure the Host club at Ouran academy were break dancing, and was that Lelouch Vi Britannia doing the worm in a sleeping bag?

"So Serena how do you like this party?" The blonde gave a small jump as she found Mina and Marik on either side of her.

"Erm…" They leaned in closer as she stayed in silence, her eyes darting from one to the other in small swift movements. Eventually…

"I LOVE IT!" She exclaimed, hugging them both. "Alright! Let's get this party started!" Pinkie pie joined in the group hug.

And so there was much partying into the night or early morning or whatever the hell it was, hey too many people were too involved in strutting their funky stuff to care. Many famous dance beats were played from party rock anthem by LMFAO to everybody dance by chic. Serena herself was having the time of her life, especially when she got to do her specialist move- the moonwalk.

However after a while everyone seemed to blur into one huge mass and the whole room seemed to swirl around her. The guardian of the moon felt her legs give way, as she seemed to sink into the ground.

"Serena? Serena? Are you ok?" Pinkie grabbed her shoulders but somehow she couldn't feel it.

"Girls? Guys? Pinkie? Why'reyouallspinninround?" She gave an almost inaudible moan. Her eyelids were clearly drooping, how could such thin layers of skin be so heavy? And everything was getting dark…

"_What happened to her?"_

"_I hope she's ok…"_

"_Serena can you hear me? SERENA? SERENA?"_

"Huh?" She woke up with a start to find Stella shaking her shoulders with the rest of the winx hovering behind her.

"Are you ok?" Bloom walked over to her anxiously. "It's 10 am!"

"What's going on," Serena rubbed her eyes groggily before looking at them suspiciously. "And where's Pinkie Pie?"

"Huh? Who's Pinkie Pie?" Musa asked, bewildered.

"You must have been dreaming sweetie," Flora told her. "There's no one here but us!"

"Although you did seem to be muttering about a Pinkie Pie when we came in," Tecna remarked. "And something about a Harlem shake, whatever that is…"

"B-but they were all here!" Serena jumped up, looking around the room wildly. "I was talking to some of my friends on my laptop and…" She paused, noticing the firmly closed portable computer on the desk. "But I opened it last night!"

"Maybe that was a dream too!" Layla suggested.

"Come on, you don't want to miss your first mathmagic lesson do you?" Bloom half-led half-dragged the girl out of the vicinity while the others followed.

**Somewhere in LA**

Mina, Marik and Pinkie Pie were extremely busy packing some essentials for their very important day trip, including Chanel sunglasses, emergency eye shadow supplies and a set of chocolate chip cupcakes.

"Thanks for the help Pinkie!" Marik shot a grin at the pony, which was currently shoving her party cannon into a suitcase.

"No Problemo! I am the party meister after all!" She smiled. "But I hope Serena enjoyed it too!"

"Well we all know that was the very epitome of fun," Mina said. "But don't forget we all gotta stick to the pinkie promise!"

"Absolutely!" The two grinned. Then the three of them recited the pinkie swear.

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!"

"Fantabulous! Now onto Disney world!" Mina cried.

With that she and Marik hopped onto Pinkie's back and rode off into the sunset. But not before getting really close to the camera scene and announcing…

"THIS HAS BEEN A BIG LIPPED ALLIGATOR MOMENT!"


	10. Mental Moon Probe

"_Princess Serena"_

The warm clear voice rang out clearly into every crevice of the girl's sleeping mind, rousing her subconscious self.

"Huh? Who's calling me?" She wondered aloud, her thoughts echoing throughout the dark passageway. She'd definitely heard this person before, but it had been a while and she was drawing a blank.

Suddenly a pure white light shot out from above and illuminated the entire landscape, which Serena recognized as the ruins of the Moon kingdom. Dozens of tiny lights were floating around her in the air like little stars. Looking down at herself she could see that she was wearing her royal Lunarian gown.

"It's been a long time my daughter," She had to jump back slightly as a particularly bright beam before her materialized into the figure of a beautiful Queen, a proud smile etched on her face.

"Q-queen Serenity? Mother, is that really you?" Serena gasped.

"Yes it is Serena." Serenity smiled gently. "I have been watching over you all these years, you have gained much more power as a Sailor Scout than you ever had at the time of the Silver Millenium, yet you have shown compassion to those who have fought you and most importantly of all you have become the true guardian of the Silver Crystal, the most powerful object in existence. Princess Serenity, I am proud to call you my daughter."

"Mother!" Serena's Sapphire eyes filled with tears and she felt the older woman pull her into a soft hug, wrapping her long slender arms around her neck.

For a few moments Queen Serenity held her in total silence before she eventually pulled back to face her with a serious expression.

"Now do you know why you have been sent to Alfea?" She asked.

"Uh uh," Serena shook her head.

The silver haired woman walked over to the edge of the chipped balcony and stared up at the starry view above them. "I have seen a brief glimpse of the future where you and Darien will marry and rule the Earth and Moon together. But before you take the throne there is one magical form you must take if you are to handle the power, and it is a form like no other you have achieved."

"Huh? Is there another Sailor henshin after Eternal then?" Serena asked, completely confused with the situation.

Queen Serenity turned back to her. "No Serena, it is called the Enchantix. It is the final compulsory form of the princesses and warriors who come from planets that are not part of the Sailor alliance."

"Wait a minute, what's the Sailor alliance?" The moon princess asked, however as soon as the words escaped her lips she found the scenery slowly deteriorating and dissolving into fine grains of platinum dust, which swept around her skirt in soft swirls.

"Wait, mother!" She called desperately as her vision begun to darken, holding her arms in front of her face to shield herself from the powder. "How do I get an Enchantix?"

"_Just let the others show you the way,"_ Even though she couldn't see anything, her mother's words seemed to echo around her as if they too had been caught in the twister. _"But prepare to make a great sacrifice."_

xxx

Ever since they had left the museum with the Agador box Darcy couldn't help but notice that Baltor seemed to be distracted about something. Icy had still been seething about the irritating elusive warrior throwing a pizza at her and Stormy was still egging her on.

Now it was the beginning of the next day and he was still seated in the corner of the cave, watching a replay of the battle intently through the crystal ball he had taken from Cloud Tower.

"Hey!" Icy snapped in his direction. Rolling her eyes the dark witch guessed that her sister had experienced another headache in the night. "We just took the Agador box so now you can absorb the magic without tearing a hole in the fabric of time or whatever- I think you'd show some enthusiasm instead of STARING ENDLESSLY AT THOSE LOSERS!"

"Yeah, for once listen to pizza-face!" Stormy agreed, nodding her head seriously.

"DO YOU WANT YOUR HEAD IMPALED ON A SPIKE?!" Icy grabbed her by the collar with one hand, clutching a very sharp ice crystal in the other.

It was probably the increasing volume of their arguing that drew Baltor away from his concentrated abstraction but instead of trying to break it up; he merely turned his chair around by 90 degrees and quietly watched the witch fight unfold in front of him, smirking at the sight.

Darcy couldn't help but shudder slightly at this; she couldn't believe she and her sisters had been landed in the same situation they had experienced last year, and one of the worst moments of her life. From where they were now no one would have possibly believed that the only reason Baltor was with them and succeeding in his goals was because they'd wanted to feed him to the Omega ice snakes. Sure he was definitely better looking than Darkar, and he did have some very powerful magic up his sleeves, but every day a small voice shouted into the back of her brain that he was probably just waiting to get powerful enough to dispose of them.

It was just unfortunate Icy and Stormy didn't feel the same way. Even though she was a dark witch Darcy knew that their poor unity was a key obstruction to defeating their enemies, whether it was a group of irritating fairies or a dark wizard who nearly destroyed them. That was why she knew she needed to stop the conflict, even if Baltor preferred to watch the show.

"Hey guys, you know she hit Baltor too, right?" She announced loudly, causing the wizard to shoot a glare in her direction.

"In answer to your comment Icy, I'm conducting a search for information that could be crucial to taking over Magix and the rest of the realms and that could make or break my success. I guess it would be better to mention this now so we can get the job done and you can stop being so _childish_." His irritated gaze lingered over Darcy for a brief moment before turning back to the others.

"So what exactly were you looking at anyway?" Icy tried to crane her neck over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of the images in the crystal ball.

"When we were in the museum I could sense a strong source of magic in the vicinity," Baltor explained. " I know it wasn't the dragon fire, I can sense Bloom's magic trail just as easy as my own. No this was different, it was much more pure and potent and _powerful_. It felt like a force that could easily vanquish anything in its way at the drop of a hat. It came from that girl in the white mask."

"Wait a second, you sound just like you did when you were talking about that legendary crystal earlier!" Darcy's eyes widened in recollection.

"I'm full aware of that. That's why I've been studying the battle, it could be possible that perhaps the legend is true…"

"Don't tell me," Stormy raised her hands. "You're saying that dumb crystal actually exists?"

"No I'm not sure, at least not now. But with the help of an Invenire orb from the realm of Invenitus," He held up his hand with the palm outstretched and facing the ceiling and smiled as a small ball of indigo matter, surrounded by a silver ring of energy that gave it a minature planetary appearance, cumulated into existence, "I might be very soon.

Now, Sphere of Invenitus! Go and seek out the Silver Imperium Crystal!" At his command the globe hovered into the air and promptly whizzed out of the open window behind him, leaving the energy ring in its place. Everyone was silent for a few minutes as they looked at the inky trail of smoke it had left behind that was rapidly evaporating into the air.

"So… now what?" Icy was the first to break the stillness.

"Now we wait, if the sphere doesn't find its target this ring will glow red. However if it does, it will become green," Baltor continued to look down at the magic in his hand. "And then we retrieve the prize!"

xxx

"So what class do we have next?" Serena asked as she followed her new fairy friends down the hall to the classroom. She was certainly hoping it would fare better than… _ugh_… _mathmagics_.

"Magical battle defense with Griselda." Musa told her. "I'm sorry that you have to deal with the grouchiest teacher at Alfea on your first day!"

"Griselda?" The blonde did a double take. "You mean that teacher who acted really strangely around me when I arrived? And when you say battle does that mean we have to fight something because lemme tell ya I'm not big on the whole- killing someone- having to be quick on your toes- kind of thing!"

"Erm…" The winx looked at each other, not sure what to say about that. Serena merely looked ahead walked alongside them, cheerfully humming a catchy tune.

"Well it is a lesson, it's supposed to help fairies learn how to fight, it can do the same for her!" Tecna tried to sound hopeful.

"I don't mean to sound mean or anything but was she even paying attention during class?" Bloom asked the others in a hushed whisper. "Flora you were sitting closest to her, were those even equations she was writing out?"

The brunette looked confused as she tried to remember. "It's hard to tell, one time she was drawing some beautiful roses, but then she started drawing what looked like some really strange symbols. I wouldn't have noticed but the whole time she kept muttering something about a harlem shake being real and interrogating some blonde people when she got home."

"Sounds like dreams really get to her." Layla still remembered how they had found her that same morning. "Well she was fast asleep when I came back to the room at 2:00 AM." Stella commented before letting out a huge yawn. "And FYI I was removing my foundation so I could apply my night time cleansing solution." She added before anyone could ask.

xxx

Five minutes later the entire class was standing outside the school. Griselda had ordered the fairies in the class that were still in their magic winx to transform first. Bloom and the others would go last as they had their enchantix, but in the meantime they would watch on the sidelines.

"Oh thank goodness!" Stella stretched out her arms happily from her position on the pink bench. "Now I can relax and have some quality tanning time!"

"Hmm," Serena chewed the corner of her lip, not really listening. She had no idea what she was going to do; she didn't have a fairy form like the others and she definitely couldn't show anyone the henshin she did have, since Luna's words about transforming kept ringing in her ears.

"_No matter what, nobody can know that you are Sailor Moon. And while you can still transform, only do so unless you absolutely have to!"_

Maybe if she stayed in the shadows they wouldn't notice her…

"Serena aren't you going to go join the others?" Layla had seen the girl standing on her own in the corner.

"Erm…why should I? How come you guys don't have to?" Serena counter-acted, slightly skittishly.

"Well you see our magic has reached a higher level than everyone else's." Tecna informed her. "We've all achieved our final compulsory fairy transformation, the Enchantix. The others are still at Magic winx level."

"You achieve the charmix in the sophomore year," Flora continued. "When you face a fear and confront a part of your true self. But it's only a small power up and only lasts for a certain amount of time so everyone else has probably used theirs up already."

"So don't worry! Everyone else is at the same stage you are, just go for it!" Bloom winked.

"Yeah come on! We wanna see your fairy outfit!" Musa added excitedly.

"Erm…" Serena was still standing precariously on the spot, looking as though she might teeter over and collapse.

"Serena, is there a problem with your winx?" Griselda had appeared behind her. Remembering her first run in with the teacher, Serena racked her brains to think of a believable excuse.

"Erm Professor didn't my paper explain that I have…er asthma and that I can't take part in any physical sports?" She asked, trying her best to sound confident and nonchalant.

"Your letter explained nothing of the sort! It is certainly true that you come from an unusual background but unless I get a note from your doctor you are expected to take part in EVERY single lesson! Is that clear? Now get ready and stop dawdling!"

As she watched Serena squirm in the spot Stella turned to her friends.

"What did Griselda mean by unusual background?" She whispered loudly.

"I don't know but keep it down Stell! The whole class could have heard you!" Musa answered.

"Maybe it's just because her realm was destroyed," Bloom told them.

Serena took a few swift steps back from the group, taking a huge gulp. "Uh…ok! I'll just go and change over there! I'll- er, be right back!" With that, she sped off behind a coral pink corner of the school building.

Once she was sure she was safely out of sight she flung her wrist in front of her face and flipped open the screen of her communicator.

"Luna Luna, help me!" She cried as her guardian's furry face flashed into view. "They want me to transform to practice fighting and I can't show them my sailor henshin!"

"Don't worry Serena," The mau reassured her. "I'm going to have a word with your headmistress now so you won't have to. In the meantime just buy yourself some more time, it won't take very long."

"Huh? How does that change anything! Why would she listen to a talking cat?" The girl demanded. Couldn't Luna see the situation was hopeless?

"Don't you remember that this isn't my only form?" Just before Luna's image faded from view it shifted into that of a beautiful woman with long dark waves flowing down her back.

"Please hurry Luna." Serena whispered, kneeling so low her lips brushed against the smooth pink and gold rim of the device.

However before she even had the chance to pick herself up off the ground the Invenire orb made a beeline around the corner and slammed straight into her back, right between the shoulder blades.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Suddenly Serena's world was filled with a bright white light and a heavy weight penetrating into her chest, as if it wanted to yank out her heart. Her eyes were squeezed tightly shut but she could feel a strong stream of energy coming from the silver crystal, not unlike the power it gave her to transform only instead of feeling warm and invincible this was white hot and pain seared through her every muscle towards the crystal, and right into the core of her body.

"_Surrender to me,"_ A soft voice seemed to hiss almost inaudibly into her ear like a snake. _"Show me your power, give it to me." _

"_N-no!"_ Serena thought, trying to blink tears out of her eyes. _"I won't lose to you! No one will take the crystal as long as I am around!"_

Only just managing to move her fingers, she closed them around her brooch through the thin layer of her shirt and held on tight, trying to keep all of the energy inside.

"_Must control my power!" _She grit her teeth hard, scarcely able to see what she was doing. _"You won't win!" _

It seemed like several millennia before eventually the torture stopped and as soon as it did Serena felt as light as a feather. She felt too light headed to wonder if it was because she had managed to hold in all the power or whether whoever it was who attacked her had simply got bored. All she could think of was to keep the crystal with her and that no one else would take it from her.

Her vision begun to blur rather quickly and she could just make out several shadows bending over her before she hit the ground.

Xxx

Just as the class was finally about to commence, the piercing screams alerted everyone's attentions to a bright silver column of light that appeared to be around the corner.

"Quick! Let's get over there!" Bloom called out as she ran up to it to get a closer look, with her friends and the rest of the class not far behind.

Once they had a clear view they were stunned to see Serena suspended in mid-air, right in the middle of the spotlight and clutching her chest with both hands.

"Oh my goodness!" Griselda exclaimed.

"Her forehead- it's glowing!" Tecna could just make out some sort of shape that seemed to be engraved the girl's temple and producing a lot of the energy surrounding her. However as she could not get any closer the pinkette couldn't work out what exactly it was.

"We can't just stand here and do nothing!" Musa shouted.

"Enchantix!" The winx yelled in unison.

Once they were transformed they flew closer to the source of the problem.

"It looks like there's dark magic inside of her and she's trying to fight it all by herself!" The fairy of technology told the rest of the winx.

Suddenly all the white energy seemed to dissipate as quickly as it had started and Serena dropped facedown onto the ground.

"Serena!" Bloom flew down and gently turned the blonde teen over so that her head was now out of the mud and rested securely in the fire fairy's elbow. "Are you ok?"

It took about a minute but Serena became animated again enough to let out a few splutters and spit out several blades of grass.

"Blaargh! Ugh…" It appeared that that had only been a reflex action as she immediately slipped back into unconsciousness.

"Out of the way girls! Go back to the main entrance there's nothing to see here!" Griselda barked, pushing past several fairies to get the group.

"Do you know what has happened to her?" She enquired, looking each girl in the eye, making Stella shudder slightly and whisper, _"Have a mint!"_

"I don't know," Bloom looked worried. "I think it's knocked her out!"

"_Not my crystal, not my crystal, no,"_ Serena muttered softly, her body shaking with every word.

"Poor Serena, she's really ill!" Flora felt her forehead. "She needs medical care!"

"Girls, take her to the nurses office immediately." Griselda instructed. "And don't forget to come back and participate in the rest of the lesson!" She shouted at Stella's retreating form.

"It seems like someone attacked her with dark magic," Tecna observed the unconscious girl as they reached the door to the infirmary. On entering the room they gently laid her down on one of the empty beds.

"Maybe some fairy dust will break whatever is left of the spell!" Musa suggested.

"Good idea!" Bloom nodded. Her and the others detransformed and watched as the fairy of music pulled her fairy dust bottle from her cyan choker. She unscrewed the cap and slowly sprinkled some of the pink powder over Serena's sleeping form. They all breathed sighs of relief as the girl's breathing became normal and she relaxed onto the mattress.

"Guess that's all we can do for now," Layla said sadly while the others nodded in agreement.

"Wait, maybe one of us should sit with her in case she wakes up!" Stella conjured up a pink sparkly chair. "I'd be happy to volunteer!"

"Stella! You're not getting out of the lesson that easily!" Bloom grabbed her arm and pulled her along as she strode back to the class with the others close behind. Fortunately none of them noticed the black cat with the crescent moon mark slip swiftly under the bed.

Xxx

A while later when Serena awoke she found herself to be in some sort of infirmary, judging by the first aid posters on the opposite wall. However her head seemed to have tripled in weight and she could hardly lift it a centimeter off the soft downy pillow on which it was currently resting.

"_Oh brother,"_ She moaned inwardly. _"I haven't felt this rough since the time I came out of the dentist!"_

**flashback**

_Serena is securely strapped in to the front passenger seat in Darien's car. Even though she has a pink blanket over her lap and a fluffy white pillow underneath her head, she looks extremely groggy and seems to be making an effort to hold her eyelids up. _

_Darien (gently): Hey Serena, how're you doing?_

_Serena: I haad surgery!_

_Darien: Yeah, I know. How did it go?_

_Serena (shakes her head violently from side to side): I, I didn't feel aaanythingg!_

_Darien: Yeah_

_Serena: Urrrrgghhh, I feel funny…_

_Darien: Kinda felt good didn't it, now your teeth are in better shape!_

_Serena: Errrr… Darien? Is this real life?_

_Darien (chuckles): Yeah Serena this is real life._

_Serena: Okaaay now, now… I have two fingers._

_Darien: Good! (Serena tries to place one of her pink manicures in between her lips) Nu uh uh uh! Don't put it in your mouth ok?_

_Serena (blinking wide-eyed): I can't see aaanything!_

_Darien: Yes you can._

_Serena: I, I don't feel tiiired…_

_Darien: You don't? _

_Serena: Do I have stitches? _

_Darien: Yeah_

_Serena: Do I have stitches? _

_Darien: Yes. Yes you do._

_Serena (her tongue lolls out the side of her mouth as she attempts to impersonate the annoying orange): Nyanyanyanyanya…_

_Darien: Serena! Don't do that, it'll mess up the stitches!_

_Serena: (giggles) Hey, hey Darien, you have four arms! Ugggh why iss this happening to meee? (Her head lolls in front of her)_

_Darien: Hey ssh, it's ok; it's just from the medicine! You'll be ok soon! (He softly puts her head back and smoothes the golden bangs out of her eyes)_

_Serena (looks up at him with watery eyes): Wi-will this be forever?_

_Darien: (sighs) No this won't be forever._

_Serena: Tuxedo Mask...(she reaches up to touch his cheek) Prince Darien…_

_Darien: Yes?  
><em>

_Serena: (serious tone) You shiny, you beautiful man. You stay shiny. _

**End flashback**

"Serena!" Luna's voice was successful in penetrating the fuzzy cloud around her brain and she could just about turn it 90 degrees to face her feline friend.

"Lunaaaa?" The golden haired girl moaned groggily. "Whasshappnin?"

"You're awake finally!" The cat beamed. "You've been out of it for the whole afternoon, don't worry I've been by your side ever since they brought you in here!" Then her expression became serious. "Now what happened exactly? Can you remember anything?"

"Yeah. It really hurt and my crystal… my crystal…" Serena's eyes welled up as she desperately tried to find the precious object, letting out a huge sigh of exhausted relief to find it was still clutched tightly in her hand.

"That brooch must be very special to you!" Luna swiftly jumped out of sight as a friendly looking woman in a white coat came over to Serena's bedside with a clipboard. "We had a hard time trying to get you to relax your hands but you refused to let go of it to the very end!" She gave a small chuckle at the girl's terrified expression. "I'm Ophelia the school nurse," She continued. "And I'm going to have to examine you a bit to see how you're doing. But you're awake so there certainly seems to be some signs of improvement!"

"Uh…ok! Sure," Serena shifted slightly, preparing to get out of bed.

"Don't worry it'll just be a few questions, now did anything attack you?"

"I-I don't know." Serena stammered. It was true, whatever it was had come up from behind so she hadn't been able to see anything before it had gone in for the kill.

"I see. Now how do you feel?"

"Tired." The blonde yawned, struggling to keep her eyelids open as her head flopped back down onto the pillow with a soft thump.

"Well that's only to be expected!" The nurse reassured her gently. "Hmm, you seem to be fine now whatever that thing was, all you need at the moment is a good long rest, I'm sure you'll be as fit as a fiddle by tomorrow!" She picked up her clipboard and, from hearing the squeaky sounds of shoes on the polished floor, Serena could tell she had left the room. She immediately turned to hang her head over the side so she could see under the bed.

"Luna!" She called urgently at the darkness.

"I see you're finally awake." Startled, she pulled herself upwards again to face an elderly woman in the doorway whose white hair resembled a small fluffy cloud. Her kindly expression put Serena somewhat at ease.

"I must say I didn't expect our first meeting to be like this but on behalf of my students and staff I would like to say what a pleasure it is to have you as a student at Alfea! I am Headmistress Faragonda," The woman smiled, walking into the room at a leisurely pace.

"Oh! Erm- Good afternoon Headmistress! Excuse me for, er, my, er, position!" Serena promptly jumped off the furniture and onto her two feet before bowing hurriedly to the teacher.

"Oh that's quite alright, I heard about what happened." Faragonda said. Then her expression became grave. "Which is all the more reason why I need a private word with you about an urgent matter."

Serena couldn't help gulping at the ominous tone. "Um, ok. What is it?"

"There are things you need to know that are happening all over the realms, I am correct in assuming that the Winx told you all about Baltor?"

Serena nodded firmly, not only had she heard, but had seen him, and fought him too. "Yup, evil bad guy with coat tails of doom and eyeliner to match? Got it!"

Chuckling slightly despite herself at the coat tails of doom comment, Faragonda continued. "Then surely you must know that he is gathering magic from all of the most powerful planets in the dimension?"

"Yeaaah, I don't mean to sound like a total bimbo here but, where is this all going?" Serena was extremely confused.

At this Faragonda placed a serious hand on her shoulder. "If Baltor find out about you, you could be in extreme danger!"

"Whaa? Why me?" Serena did a double take.

"When I found out that you had accepted my offer of attending Alfea it was wonderful news, not only because the school would be gaining a new student, but also that there was proof that the fairy tale of the Silver Millenium existed." The Headmistress told her.

"Uh huh." Serena nodded, deciding to save her opinions for the end of the story, and also because she could clearly see the frantic gestures from Luna that meant _"Don't tell them anything!"_

"Legend has it that there was once a prosperous kingdom on the Moon, which was the home of the Lunarians, and was completely wiped out by the Dark kingdom. All the inhabitants, including the Queen, her daughter and her loyal court lost their lives to seal away their enemy with what was known as the most powerful crystal in the cosmos. For centuries no one has ever known whether this empire was real or not, until you arrived Serena."

"Riiight." Serena motioned for her to go on, but was inwardly rolling around in her soul room at the fact that she and her friends were presumed dead but were actually very much alive.

"According to the papers given to me by Griselda, you are the last of your kind. Your guardian also approached me earlier today who informed me that it was not wise for you to take part in the physical parts of the classes, that is until your power reaches a certain level."

"Right! My powers! I've been meaning to ask Headmistress; apparently I need to get an Enchantix! How do I get one exactly?" Serena shot in with her question, eager at getting an answer to her dream.

Faragonda smiled sadly. "I'm afraid that will be rather difficult for you Serena, as to get an Enchantix a fairy must save someone from her own realm and in doing so, make a great sacrifice."

The news seared through Serena like a jolt of white-hot lightning and she visibly seemed to sag downwards. Faragonda seemed to notice this and tried to reassure her.

"Do not worry, while you are at Alfea you can still train your powers and become stronger, in fact I would advise you to spend a lot of time with Bloom and her friends, they may be able to help you."

However the Moon princess seemed to detect an ulterior motive coming from the older woman. "Hang on, forgive me Headmistress, but I don't think that's the only reason you want me to hang around them!"

Faragonda raised a hand in defeat. "You are quite right Serena. I also believe that they are the only ones who will be able to protect you from Baltor. He is a very dangerous creature and if he discovers that magic from the Silver Millenium exists, he's going to try to destroy you!"

Xxx

_Flash!_

Among all the dark colorings in the gothic study, there was a single ring of bright green, gently levitating above a gloved hand. Even though it disintegrated after a few minutes the conjurer still could hardly contain the emotion that somewhat resembled joy at the discovery.

"Soon nothing will stand in my way."


	11. Are all leads dead ends?

The next few days seemed to fly by for Serena so quickly that if someone told her they had not happened at all, she would have easily believed them, if it weren't for the huge mountain of homework that was consistently piling up on her desk, no matter how many times she tried to reduce its size.

On the plus side she found that lessons on magic spells were in fact every little girls' dream come true as a lot of the subjects were a great deal easier than those on Earth and a lot more interesting too. She was even scraping an average on some of her weaker points (botany and electromagic) since Flora and Tecna were more than happy to help her.

However at the end of each day, as well as not having any time to find out more about the ever elusive enchantix, she always found that her energy had been drained from constantly exercising her powers, something she had previously never been able to do unless she transformed.

Therefore every night when she could finally flop facedown onto her bed, she found herself floating through a dreamless sleep, where there was no Queen Serenity in sight to give her a helping hand.

One particular morning she didn't even hear her alarm clock, so Luna had taken it upon herself to substitute.

"Serena," She began warningly, deciding to use the calm approach at first.

"Sorry Miss H, I couldn't do my homework 'cause I was tryna find fairy wings," Said girl was mumbling sleepily. "And then I got kidnapped by Firebenders,"

"Serena wake up!" Luna prodded her shoulder impatiently.

"But don' worry Avatar Aang and the Gaang came in and kicked their butts," Serena continued, still stuck in the alternate universe. "And then we all went flyin on his sky bison and that wascool cause I still hadn't gotten my fairy wings and…"

"SERENA!" Luna shrieked, right in her ear.

"AAAAGH! LUNA! I'LL MOONBEND THE CRAP OUT OF YOU!" The young Senshi sprung out of bed and into action and proceeded to chase the offending animal around the room. This only lasted a few seconds because she then realized she had lost her energy already and dissolved into a pink shapeless mass on her mattress.

"Damn it Luna!" She growled, trudging into the ensuite bathroom. "Why do you feel the need to do that? You know how I feel about you disrespecting my sleep patterns!"

"I've just given you a warm up," The cat remarked. "Because from what I've heard, you've got a rhythmic dance workshop this morning!"

"Rhythmic dance?" Serena groaned, slumping over the sink. "Is this school just inventing ways to humiliate me in front of everyone?" Then her eyes narrowed. "Wait Luna, how do you know all this?"

"I've been up for a couple of hours," Luna replied matter-of-factly. "Your new friends have been getting ready outside!"

"Guess I gotta go looking good then!" Serena sighed as she laid out several possible candidates of clothing before eventually selecting a sleeveless white turtleneck t-shirt with a large printed picture of Avatar Aang flying on his orange glider, along with some fluffy white wrist bands with the symbol of the air nomads on them (she was hoping that the spirits of the airbenders would make her feel light as a feather). She also picked out a pair of sparkly silver leggings and some powder pink legwarmers that matched the ballet pumps on her feet. As for her hair she kept her usual "odangos" but decided to plait the long bunches instead of leaving them loose, fastening the ends with cloudlike scrunchies.

When she came out into the bedroom she found the group lounging comfortably around the room, except for Stella who was furiously brushing her hair by the desk. The other five were intently watching some breaking news on the plasma TV.

"The surprise invitation-only wedding between King Radius and Countess Cassandra will take place in the royal palace of Solaria tomorrow afternoon." A news reporter was stating. "King Radius made the surprise announcement that armed guards will be in place to prevent the unwanted attendance from any undesirable persons."

"I knew he'd fall under that shrew's spell again!" Stella exclaimed angrily, finally turning around.

"Stella maybe he didn't and this is all part of a plan?" Bloom suggested from her position on the Solarian princess's bed.

"No that crown-robbing, fashion-challenged, third-rate countess has spelled him again! Just look at that woman, just look at her! A purple ball gown in the fall? Yeuk!" She almost flung her hairbrush at the screen as the others suppressed a giggle.

"Ugh news flash Cassandra you don't look like a queen you look like a game-show hostess!"

I have so got to stop the ceremony! You girls will help me! You will, won't you?"

"What's going on?" They all turned to face Serena when she finally spoke.

"We think Stella's father could be in danger," Bloom told her. "Before we went back to school a countess called Cassandra spelled him into marrying her and making her daughter princess instead of Stella."

"Ohhh, wait does that mean they're in league with Valtor?" Serena suddenly found herself piecing things together.

"Of course, they would never be this powerful otherwise!" Bloom answered, although her tone seemed somewhat confused, as if she hadn't thought of that before and had only just figured it out.

"It also means that Baltor could have control over Solaria's magic," Layla added.

"Well we've got to have come up with a plan by today or it'll be too late!" Flora said anxiously.

"Fortunately I've been receiving inside scoops from a freshman since the beginning of term," Stella informed everyone. "We'll get the latest low-down after first class!"

"I don't know about you girls but I am totally ready to strut my stuff!" Musa leapt up from her seat, twirling around in her dance outfit.

"Totally!" Layla agreed as the group exited the bedroom, Flora and Tecna slightly behind the others. Serena however was right at the end of the queue, an expression of joyless dread and a matching sweatdrop plastered over her face.

"_May the Avatar help me!"_ She thought with gritted teeth as the door closed behind her.

000

Darcy was bored. Even though she knew she should probably make the most of the rare moments of peace bestowed upon her, she just couldn't get over the strangeness of the previous events that had passed by in barely a week.

Ever since Baltor had obtained solid proof of the Silver Crystal's existence, he had locked himself in what he had named his "office", supposedly trying to find a spell that would pinpoint the exact location. Upon hearing this news Stormy had immediately rushed off to practice fighting with a pair of golden fans that she had claimed came from a place called "Kyoshi Island" and Icy had gone to inhale what must have been her fifth packet of aspirin.

Speaking of which, the latter seemed to be doing an awful lot of that these days. Darcy herself hadn't been feeling in top form for a while, in fact she was sure that all three of them had been under the weather but it seemed to be affecting Icy the most. Even the vast tones of ice cream she had been consuming to celebrate the mission hadn't lifted her mood in the slightest. Who knew, maybe it was just her time of the month.

Letting out a huge sigh the dark witch leant against the cold stone wall to stare up at the stalactites on the ceiling as she tried to make sense of the symptoms. Why the hell was she feeling this depressed now? It wasn't like she had any reason to feel any worse than she usually did, what with the fact that she was having to "work for" yet again a dark wizard who wanted to take over the world, and not only that, but also the fact that she and her sisters would have to sit on the sidelines when their original goal was to be rulers themselves. Just where did it go wrong?

Scratch that - when was the last time she had felt genuinely happy? For so long now they had been focused on trying to catch that damned dragon fire, even though there was all that crap about "never fully draining magic from its source". But nooo, they had to keep going back for more because according to Icy "If we have the dragon fire we will rule the universe!" Jeez, if Icy wanted it so badly, why couldn't she just take Baltor's? His was a dark version too, so it would be even easier for them to handle!

It was then that Darcy came to a conclusion that would probably influence the parts of her life yet to come.

"_Who cares about the dragon fire anymore?_"

Everything seemed to click into place; she'd somehow had an inkling that the quest for power from the almighty flame had becoming more meaningless with each planet on which they received a criminal record. And man, did they have a stack of criminal records. She was sure they'd become some of the hugest delinquents Magix had to offer. And all for just one measly flame that happened to come from a dragon.

Not only that, ever since the appearance of that mysterious girl who called herself "Sailor Moon," Baltor had become convinced that the dragon fire wasn't even the most powerful source of magic in the magix dimension anymore. After all they'd been through, all they'd done, would it really be worth it?

"Aaaak!" She suddenly convulsed over in agony as she was struck by a blinding headache that seemed to fill her entire skull with pure pain.

"_How dare you forget your duty!" _ A raspy voice shrieked in her ears. _"Is this what you were created for, to neglect the desires and lifelong wishes of your coven?" _

"_No,"_ Her lips formed the word but she could hear no sound come out. "_That's not-"_

"_Why should I listen to you? You and your sisters have continuously proven to be weak, stupid little girls, meant to fulfill one purpose but not one of you can manage even that! You don't even deserve your name if you can't live up to it! I can't even think of one good reason why I should keep you alive right now!"_

"_Please,"_ She could feel herself visibly shaking as she buried her face in the palm of her gloved hands, desperately trying to block out the threats, wishing she could run away and hide from this vicious entity. _"I'm sorr- I'll try,"_

"_Hmm,"_ The voice took an awful long time to consider. _"I suppose that'll have to do, for now. But let's answer this, shall we? Are you going to be a good little girl and carry out your life's mission?"_

"_Yes,"_ She grit her teeth, hating the feel of that weak little word.

"_Very well,"_ As the voice faded, so did the owner's control of her being and Darcy fell, headfirst onto the cold, hard ground.

"Ugh," Wincing at the feel of the moist stone on her face, she tried to get up as quick as she could, groggily shaking her head. Looking all over she could see and feel that she had worked up a cold sweat and her bangs hung in slimy yellow strands over her cheeks.

"Darcy."

"Huh?" She whipped her head up hurriedly to see Baltor standing in front of her with the Agador box in his arms. His pale eyes showed obvious disgust through the blank mask of his face, as if he was being merciful by not voicing his opinion as it was one she clearly wouldn't want to hear.

"You and your sisters have a job to do for me in Solaria tomorrow." He informed her coldly. "You'll be infiltrating the palace so clean yourself up."

And just like that he strode away, back into the shadows, leaving Darcy to follow the orders, just like she usually did.

000

As they journeyed out into the grounds Serena couldn't help but still be confused. Just what were the winx planning to do? From what she had seen, they could change outfits at the drop of a hat, and there was a whole class devoted to shapeshifting that was taught by the eccentric professor Wizgiz. Surely they could just conjure up some disguises? As for herself she had her disguise pen so she definitely did not have a problem in that department. She was hoping she wouldn't have to do anything too strenuous, her ankles were still recovering after her "rhythmic dance moves".

"Nova!" Stella's yell penetrated her thoughts as she saw the Solarian wave at a girl with pale orange hair and dark green eyes, who had up till recently been peacefully reading a library book on the grass.

"Stella? Hi!" The girl looked up, slightly startled but then gave a friendly smile in Serena's direction. "Who's your new friend?"

"Oh this is Serena, she just joined here," Stella said hastily, gesturing at the blonde before getting back to her point. "So what have you heard about my Dad's wedding?"

At this Nova gave a small smirk as if she could tell what the princess was trying to plan. "I've heard that security's going to be ultra mega tight."

"Nova's parents have high ranking positions in Solaria's court." Bloom explained to Serena while Kiko dozed in her arms. "She's been giving Stella information on what's going on in there, since countess Cassandra spelled her father into banishing her." The blonde nodded quietly as Luna, who was draped around her shoulders like a fur scarf, opened one eye.

"I know that already, I need to know the details of what's being planned at the palace!" Stella was saying somewhat impatiently.

At this Nova stood up so that she could talk to the girls without craning her neck. "Okay, fine! It's going to be a huge private party. Word is, it's gonna be circus themed with exotic animals, clowns and that sort of thing!"

"Hold up, did you just say circus?" Serena held her hands up in disbelief. "You've gotta be kidding me! Clowns? Circus colors? That's the most un-wedding like combo I can think of! My da- cousin's best friends used to work in a circus, and believe me when I say they didn't do weddings!"

"Well there'll also be fire-jugglers, dancers and a famous flying biker act!" Nova continued.

"Flying bikers at a wedding? Now I know Cassandra re-spelled my dad!" Stella snorted.

"Wait, you mean they exist?" This was all too much for Serena to take. " As in flying motorcycles? As in motorcycles that fly? Ooh I gotta tell Amara about this!"

"Who's Amara?" Flora asked.

"Friend from Japan." The Moon princess answered.

"Back to the subject!" Stella told them sharply. "What's our plan gonna be?"

"I know!" Layla exclaimed. "We'll sneak in disguised as the dancers!"

"My dau- cousin's friends could get us some outfits!" Serena added.

"I don't think we could pull that off." Stella remarked. "No offense to Tecna, but her left foot doesn't even know where her right foot is half the time!"

"What about jugglers?" Bloom asked. "We can make Kiko part of the act!" At this she threw the surprised bunny into the air. However as soon as she caught him he promptly fell asleep again. Luna snuggled more into the crook of Serena's neck to make it clear she wasn't going anywhere.

"They're going to be juggling fire!"

"But you two wouldn't have a problem with that disguise, I mean your powers are fire," Serena told Bloom before turning to Stella. "And if your powers are from the sun then that's kinda the same thing!"

"But with all the hairspray that's going to be at that wedding that's a disaster waiting to happen!"

Nova snapped her fingers. "Then that leaves the flying bikers. Your boyfriends can give you lessons!"

"Or… seeing as no one from your realm knows or has met me before, I can get into the party and find a way to sneak you all in for you to do your thing." Serena suggested.

They all looked at her for a few moments with thoughtful expressions, as if they were actually considering her idea.

"But if we pretend to be the flying bikers, we'll get to see the boys!" Stella was first to break that silence.

The other winx girls quickly nodded in agreement and Tecna whipped out her hi-tech magix mobile to call the specialists.

"Oh well, I tried." Serena shrugged. She took off her pink leather satchel off her shoulder so she could pull out one of the colourful comic books she had stashed inside earlier.

"Serena, shouldn't we be making a start on researching enchantix?" Luna raised her eyebrows. "Cosmos knows, you need all the power you can take, now it turns out an evil wizard could be after you, maybe we need to regroup the sailor scouts!"

"Uh uh Luna! The girls are not gonna be involved with this!" Serena shook her head firmly. "I will not have them get hurt for me anymore, and as long as he doesn't know about them they'll be safe! And don't worry, I'll make sure Voltron's gonna get a good dose of moondust!"

Just as she finished speaking a huge gust of wind hurtled past her as a huge red ship hovered over the ground before parking right in front of the six fairies behind her.

"Hey what gives?" She exclaimed angrily, smoothing her skirt back down.

Turning around she could see her new fairy friends deep in conversation with their boyfriends. It seemed like they were doing ok on their own and frankly, seeing them all together made her miss Darien. If she was going to act like the mature responsible student she had become, it was best not to think about such things.

"Well good luck with that one girls! I'll see you when I see you!" Serena gave a little wave before going over to a nearby bench to finally read her comic book.

"Wait, aren't you gonna join us?" Musa asked, confused. "Don't you wanna learn how to ride a bike?"

"Oh I tried once!" Serena said indignantly.

**Flashback**

_Serena is sitting on Darien's motorcycle wearing a bright pink helmet that matches her elbow and kneepads. Darien, Raye, Amara and Michelle are standing on the side looking uneasy._

_Darien: For the last time, are you sure you want to do this?_

_Serena: Are you kidding me? I was born ready! Get set to hand over those comic books when I'm done Raye!_

_Michelle (looking towards the girl in question in disbelief): She's doing this, because of a BET?_

_Raye(sighs): I didn't think she was actually gonna do it!_

_Amara (shakes her head): This is not going to end well._

_(Back to Serena, who flexes her fingers determinedly on the handlebars)_

_Serena: Alright! Let's do this! 3…2…1… Go-BWAAAAAHHH!_

_(The motorcycle has just fallen over on its side, trapping her underneath) _

_Everyone: SERENA!_

_(Amara and Michelle facepalm while Darien and Raye have to pull her out from under the bike)_

_Serena (groan): Next time I'll just stick to the backseat!_

**End flashback**

"It didn't end well." She scowled.

"Come on Serena it's a great idea!" Bloom pleaded. "It'll totally work and it'll be fun!"

"Tecna downloaded a video of the real act," Sky announced before gesturing to the fairy in question. "Roll it Tec!"

Tecna promptly opened her device to show the projection of a group of motorcyclists performing various gymnastic stunts while their bikes hovered in mid-air.

"We're gonna have to do that?!" Stella exclaimed as she watched a demonstration of a particularly difficult somersault.

"It'll be awesome!" Layla remarked excitedly, then her expression turned serious. "But we only have one day to learn!"

"Still not too late to switch to plan Serena!" The other blonde in the group said in a singsong voice, briefly looking up from her comic book. Stella couldn't help throwing a hesitant glance in her direction, as if she had changed her mind. However the odds were still ten against one.

"You'll only have to learn to ride well enough to fool the guards, you won't actually have to do any tricks." Sky explained.

"Sky's right Stell, we just have to get through the palace gates in order to stop the wedding!" Bloom added.

"This'll be the best non-wedding ever!" Musa exclaimed eagerly.

"Fine I'm in!" Stella sighed in pouting defeat before cracking a cunning smile. "But only if you promise to find us some really fab uniforms!"

Rolling her eyes with a huge groan that no one seemed to notice, Serena decided to quit the scene. It was clear no one was going to listen to her suggestion and she had a feeling she wouldn't really be needed in the plan. Which was just as well because she had some investigating of her own to be getting on with, like trying to find a loophole for the enchantix transformation.

"Sooo, Luna you've had a chance to explore this place, do you have any leads for where we can get some serious info?" She whispered Luna as she opened to door to the main building.

"It would definitely be a good idea to try the library," Her guardian informed her. "There are millions of books on every subject in the magical dimension! Or so I've heard the librarian tell the professors!"

"Great job!" Serena beamed. "I'm sure we'll find something useful before the day's up!"

**three hours later**

"OH MY SERENITY THERE'S NOTHING USEFUL IN HERE!" Serena exclaimed in immense frustration, flapping her arms up and down to prove her point.

"Serena keep your voice down!" Luna hissed from inside the satchel, gesturing in the direction of a few fairies, who were trying to study and sending her dirty looks.

However she in turn was rewarded with the queen of glares from the Lunarian herself that clearly meant, _"say one more thing and we're going to the mitten factory!"_ To be fair the girl had been pushed to a fair bit of extremes, she'd already been bitten by two of the most aggressive books, had accidentally knocked over a huge pile of organized scrolls and had discovered some quite disturbing facts from a book entitled "Supernatural substances."

"Found anything?" She grumpily decided to ask.

Luna shook her head. "I'm afraid I've had no luck either, but we've got to keep trying!" At another exhausted look from her princess her tone softened. "Ok how about we call it a day, hm? Odds are we have to find a lead sometime! But you do need your energy!"

"Uh huh." Serena nodded. "You'd think there'd be more information on something you have to achieve in this school!" She grumbled as they started to stroll down the corridor.

Whoosh!

Suddenly a flash of green and orange light whizzed past her and round the corner, leaving a glittery trail of magic behind it.

"Huh? What was that?" Serena turned around, startled. She decided to run after it, Luna hot on her heels.

Skidding past the corner she was surprised to see Glim playing with some sort of winged seahorse.

" 'Rena!" The little pixie squeaked happily, flittering over to her with the creature following.

"Is that a flying seahorse?" Luna blinked twice while turning slowly her head 90 degrees.

"I've learnt not to question these things anymore," Serena told her in a suspiciously up-beat manner as she twirled around with her bonded pixie.

"So who's your little friend?" Serena bent down to get a closer look at the creature.

"Fortune fly! Fortune fly!"

"A fortune fly?" Serena excitedly looked it in the eye. "Ooh does that mean you'll tell my fortune?"

The seahorse merely winked and proceeded to fly away at top speed, although the amber glitter remained.

"Follow! Follow!" Glim impatiently tugged on one of Serena's pigtails, gesturing her to pursue it.

"Ok." She shrugged, deciding to go along, what could she lose from doing so?

After a few minutes they reached what looked like a dead end.

"Okay where'd it go?" She looked to Glim for an answer. The pixie flew over to a mirror on the wall and pointed at it.

"Look!" Luna padded over. "There's a doorway in this mirror!"

"Yeah but there's no door here!" Serena was getting slightly irritated. "See? No doo-argh!"

She had tried to lean against the "wall" to prove her point but had actually opened the invisible door and had fallen into the room behind it. Luna and Glim entered behind her while she regained her balance.

Looking up Serena could see that she was in some kind of library, it was the only explanation for the tall book-filled shelves, which covered most of the walls.

"Whoa, I didn't see a tower in this part of the school outside!" She said quietly, craning her neck at the high ceiling. In the corner of her eye she could see that Glim had flown over to a small levitating service that contained a small armchair and table and a flower shaped lamp.

"Neither did I," Luna had got up and leapt into the girl's open arms. "This must be where they keep the secret archives!"

"Plus, no librarian in sight, no need to keep quiet! Result!" Serena exclaimed loudly, making Luna roll her eyes.

Suddenly a beam of blue light swirled down from the ceiling and hovered in front of them. When it arrived they saw it was another pixie in light blue robes and tiny round glasses. Her yellow hairstyle reminded Serena of Princess Leia.

"Sorry I'm not doing any psychic readings today, you'll have to come back later!" She remarked.

Luna blinked at her for a few seconds, before Serena had a sudden burst of realization.

"Are you Concordia?" She asked.

The pixie seemed slightly surprised. "Why indeed, I am, who told you about me? I've never met you before!"

"Ninfea of pixie village." Serena said, not missing a beat. "She said you could help me if I needed it, which coincidentally I do, by the way," She laughed nervously.

"Hmm, maybe I will do your reading, you have an extremely strong karmic energy coming from you," Her large eyes widened slightly as she looked at her. "Perhaps the strongest I've ever seen!"

"Huh?" Serena exchanged a glance with Luna as Concordia summoned her furniture, Glim following it to join the others. "Is that a good sign?" She enquired warily, watching the psychic pixie sit down.

"Oh yes, absolutely! It shows you are surrounded by loyal friends!"

"You got that right!" Serena smiled.

"This is most extraordinary! Not only do I see eight strong friendship lights around you, I also see six more trying to form!" Concordia continued, fascinated.

"Hmm, well I know that the eight can be one for each of the girls," Serena felt truly happy that not only her trusted inner Senshi, but also the outer Senshi would stick by her forever. "Hey, does that mean those winx girls really want to be my friends too?"

"That, I can easily believe," Concordia told her. "I've met those girls, they're some of the finest fairies Alfea has produced! But what I've said doesn't even begin to cover the others I've seen, it seems that you are interlinked with so many lives, and they all converge around you!"

Luna nodded her head in agreement, it was true, if there was one thing the Moon Princess was good at, it was making friends.

"Uh oh," Concordia's expression became that of concern.

"What uh oh?" Serena jumped closer, not liking the ominous tone this conversation was taking.

"Sorry dear, I see great peril! I see a dark wizard after you, and you must achieve a new power before it is too late, the universe depends on it!"

"What? Oh yeah yeah, I knew that already," Serena waved it off in a way that was too casual for Luna's liking. "But what would be really useful to me is **how** I get that power!" She looked hopefully at the psychic pixie.

"Ah yes, the enchantix, the transformation that can be earned by saving someone from your own realm… Oh my! I'm afraid it will be rather difficult for you!" Concordia exclaimed. Seeing the girl's pained look she tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Unless…"

"TELL ME!" Serena shouted in a loud commanding voice. Luna looked up at her with a very disturbed expression. The psychic pixie merely acted as if it had not just happened and continued dramatically.

"I see that you have already discovered your solution, something happened to you in your past that changed your life, something that should not be possible to anyone! You must re-connect with that, and not just for your gain, you are the key to saving the universe!"

With that, the small woman sunk back on her armchair, exhausted. "I'm afraid that's all I can say for now." She sighed.

Serena stared at her in a blank silence for a few moments. She was about to say, "Is that it?" But decided against doing so, as she wasn't sure how much more mystery she could take.

"Well, thanks a lot! Ooh would ya look at the time, is that an owl? Well I've really gotta get going now so… see you around!" She giggled nervously and backed out of the door, almost bumping into a neatly piled stack of books on her way out, making them wobble precariously. Luna followed swiftly through the opening, leaving the pixies alone with the pets.

"Well that was… interesting." Luna diplomatically remarked as soon as they were out of earshot.

"Are you kidding me?" Serena exclaimed. "It was more pointless than that fight with that mentally confused Youma at the new years party!"

**flashback**

_Sailor Moon is in a battle stance, ready to fight a youma that looks like a Minnie mouse reject. The creature calmly walks up to her, carrying a large black bomb and places it into the surprised Senshi's hands. The fuse is slowly burning up. _

_Youma: "Could you hold this for me?" _

_It then walks away. _

_Sailor Moon stands frozen to the spot for a few seconds, watching the time count down to her imminent death. _

_Youma (suddenly comes back): "Thanks." It takes the bomb back and leaves. _

**End flashback.**

"Events from our past, things that shouldn't be possible," Luna was recalling. "She could have meant one of our adventures with the Sailor Scouts, it sounds like there should be a connection but I can't think what!"

"How about me finding out I was Sailor Moon?" Serena said sarcastically. "You think I should go save myself?"

"Be serious about this," The cat chided. "For all we know it could even lead back to the Silver Millenium!"

"Yeah, well let's call it a day, we can brainstorm more tomorrow when I'm feeling more awake." Serena let out a huge yawn before turning to look at the pinky orange glow of the sunset through the corridor window.

"Isn't it beautiful?" She smiled, feeling the golden glow of the setting sun. Luna miaowed in agreement beside her.

"But I thought you two were gonna break up anyway!"

"Huh?" Serena looked to the side to see Layla walking alongside a visibly irritated Musa.

"We were!" The fairy of music retorted. "I was… I mean, I was gonna tell him and all, but, I like him! I just wish he would treat me differently," She looked down sadly.

"Hey girls!" Serena took this moment to join in the conversation. "How'd the flying bike riding go?

"It was great!" Layla answered enthusiastically. "It was so much fun, I don't even think we needed the guys there!"

"I certainly didn't!" Musa said bitterly.

"Is this about your boyfriend?" Serena asked knowingly.

"Her and Riven have been on/off for a few years now," Layla explained. "Personally I think she's making the right call dumping him!"

"Oh really?" Serena's eyes narrowed.

"Well I mean we were getting kinda close last year when he sacrificed his existence to save me from Lord Darkar, but this year-"

"Whoa whoa whoa," Serena interrupted, raising both her hands. "He sacrificed his LIFE, his ENTIRE EXISTENCE, just for you?"

"Well yeah," Musa looked uncomfortable. "But-"

"No buts!" Serena exclaimed angrily. "This sounds like a guy who really likes you and who'd do anything for you! And you just wanna THROW IT ALL AWAY LIKE THAT?" She snapped her fingers sharply.

"I wouldn't be so sure on that one," Musa muttered. "He never appreciates me for who I am and he never wants to talk about feelings!"

"I hate to break it to ya Musa but guys aren't always uncomfortable with expressing their feelings 24/7," Serena said frankly. "And the point is, nothing's stopping you from being together, you can see each other whenever you want! Others would kill to be in that position! You should be making the most of it, not pushing each other away! You don't know the real meaning of relationship problems…" A tear fell down her cheek as she paused for a minute to re-repress painful memories. Upon feeling it, she hurriedly wiped it away and smiled back.

"Now if you don't mind I'm off to find survivors to save!"

With that she strode off down the corridor, leaving the two girls in silence.

"Well that felt good!" She remarked happily to Luna. "I was finally able to implant some of my worldly wisdom on random civilians!"

000

The next day Serena awoke at the crack of 8:30 AM to see her roommate, already fully dressed, chatting animatedly to a hologram on her advanced magix mobile.

"So we'll all meet down by the forest in half an hour?" She was saying. "Great! We'll practice solo while you do your shopping list! Bye Snookums!" She blew a kiss at the screen. "Wait, you know my size, don't you?"

"Yeah I got it," The Brandon-image sighed, as if they had gone over this many times before. "Small?"

"EXTRA EXTRA SMALL DAMMIT!" Stella exploded before reverting back to sunshine and smiles.

"Well see ya there!" She trilled and terminated the connection.

"Stella?" Serena rubbed one of her eyes. "What are you doing?"

"Oh Serena you're already up!" Stella was bouncing up and down around the room. "Well after we go over our newfound skills as flying bikers, we're finally gonna save my dad!"

"That's great!" Serena smiled. "Good luck with that!"

"Thanks!" The Solarian beamed before going over to the dressing table to brush her hair. "Just think, after today I'll be the rightful princess of the Sun and Moon!"

"HAAA?" Firecrackers exploded in Serena's skull at what she had just heard. "How can this be?" She fumed inwardly. "Moon power's mine!"

"Wait, Stella, could I ask something?" Outwardly she put on her most wide-eyed innocent look.

"Yeah?" The other blonde didn't turn away from the mirror.

"You know how you just said you were the princess of the sun **and** Moon? Erm how does that work exactly?"

"Well I got my moon powers from my mother, Queen Luna," Stella told her airily.

"But how come she has lunar powers? Because all the lunarians were wiped out after the destruction of the moon kingdom!" Serena persisted.

"The moon kingdom?" At this Stella turned around, looking slightly suspicious. "We haven't started learning about that in class yet! I only heard about it from one of the palace advisors when I was 9!"

"I've-er- been reading up since I got here." This wasn't a complete lie, Serena had been reading up, but not on information she had already known before.

Fortunately Stella did not probe any further as she was too absorbed in her own agenda. "Well apparently my mother is only one with surviving lunarian DNA, supposedly it was passed down through her family, which is why she's so high up in Solaria. Even though my parents have separated now she still has some control in ruling the realm. Strange, I haven't heard from her in a while now…"

"Will she be at the wedding?" Serena enquired, looking thoughtful.

Stella snorted. "I doubt it, I didn't see her last time I was there, oh no! Maybe that no good Countess has captured her!" She clasped her hairbrush dramatically. "We've definitely gotta pull our plan off if that's the case! Well, I've gotta get going now! See you later!"

She rapidly dashed out of the dormitory, slamming the door behind her. Serena kicked Luna, who had been up to this point, curled up peacefully on the duvet.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking Luna?" She asked determinedly.

"I think so," The cat still somewhat looked indignant at being rudely awakened but nodded in agreement.

"I've gotta get into that party."

000

After spending the morning preparing, both undercover Sailor Scout and cat companion found themselves behind a wall outside the palace gates in a matter of seconds, courtesy of the teleport on her communicator.

"Whoa, talk about top level security," Serena was checking out the impressive amount of garishly dressed guards, surrounding the area. "At least you can see them coming, they don't exactly blend in to the shadows!"

"Are you ready for this?" Luna whispered.

"I was born ready," Serena answered, producing her disguise pen.

"DISGUISE POWER! Turn me into a glamorous leading lady of society!"

After the pink smoke subsided Serena could see that she was now wearing the same outfit she had worn in one of her earlier missions, the one where she had first danced with Tuexdo Mask.

"This sure brings back memories," She sighed wistfully, twirling around.

"Keep it together!" Luna hissed, snapping her out of it. "You're here to save Queen Luna and earn the Enchantix!"

"About that, don't you find it weird when people have the same name as you?" Serena couldn't help asking as they approached the entrance, even though Luna couldn't really answer because they were in full view of the soldiers.

"Excuse me sir, but I am Countess Lady Selenity, you will find me on the guest list." She remarked succinctly, striding past the gate, not caring to stick around while they checked the records to find she was bluffing.

"Wow, that was impressive," Luna noted.

"Yeah, well you might wanna get out of sight if I'm gonna keep this up," Serena whispered. "I'm not sure how great this place is with animals!"

"Alright, if you need me, contact me through the communicator," Luna told her before scampering out of sight behind one of the gazebos. Serena decided to take a few moments to look around, so that she could get her bearings.

"Hmm, if I were a queen," She thought, "I'd choose to hang out… in the palace!"

At that brainstorm she promptly hitched up her skirt and delicately climbed the steps in her soft satin shoes.

Just as she was about to enter the grand building she caught sight of six motorcycles pulling up in front of a poncy looking announcer who was wearing a monocle.

"Those must be Stella and the others!" She said to herself. "I don't think the party's started yet, so they should be able to make it, now back to my business!"

After closing the door behind her, she found herself alone in the huge empty hall.

"Helloo?" She asked cautiously, cringing at the rather loud echo her voice left behind. "Anybody home?"

As if on cue a young woman came hurrying into the hall, her blonde hair tied up in a long plait. She was wearing a maid's uniform that brought out her jade-coloured eyes.

"Excuse me, miss? If you're looking to attend the wedding, it's outside in the main tent, the post party will take place in the royal gardens afterwards," She said politely but rapidly as she took a deep bow.

"Oh, it's ok, that's not what I came for!" Serena sweatdropped, not used to being addressed like this. "I actually came to see the Queen!"

"The Queen-to-be Cassandra? Solaria's new queen is also outside, preparing for the ceremony."

"Oh no no no! I meant Queen Luna! Is she around?"

At her words the maid gave a visible gasp before giving an obviously rehearsed answer. "She is no longer the Queen of Solaria, after the ceremony she will be exiled to the island of Esteros."

"Huh?" _"Maybe this is my test!"_ Serena thought. _"Well challenge accepted!"_

"Oh well then it's all the more important that I go see her, I guess!" She said resolutely. "Do you know where I could find her?"

"Are you a friend of Queen Luna?" The maid asked curiously.

"Weell, let's just say we might go way back!" Serena laughed nervously.

"Very well," The maid bowed again. "I will take you to her, miss…"

"Oh just call me Serena!" The moon princess was not one for formalities.

"So what's your name then?" She tried to start a conversation as the servant girl led her up the spacious staircase.

"My name? Oh, it's Fiona." Her company said shyly, as if she wasn't used to attention.

"And you work here?" Serena was staring at the various portraits and ornaments that decorated the area. "Man this must take forever to clean!"

"I've had this job ever since I left Alfea. I was one of Princess Stella's lady's maids, now Chimera is the princess." Fiona explained quietly.

"_Chimera? That sounds like the name of a monster I fought once!"_ Serena thought. Instead of voicing this opinion aloud she chose to ask another question. "What's it like? Do they treat you ok?" 

Fiona bit her lip. "It's not my place to say, Miss Serena."

"I told you, just Serena's fine! And it's just me here, no one else's gonna know, I promise!"

"Well." The servant girl took a deep breath. "This was a happy place while Luna was the Queen and Stella was the princess. But ever since Countess Cassandra came into power, she took total control of the realm. People have been living in misery ever since! Unless someone stops the wedding…"

"Now I know for a fact that you don't have to worry about that one Fiona!" Serena gave her a reassuring smile. "I believe the real princess is crashing the system as we speak! Just like the time me and my friends trolled one of our nastiest enemies!"

**flashback**

_The Sailor Scouts are standing against a wall, staring with apparent fear at Kaorinite who is standing opposite them, one hand pointing a gun at them, the other held out like she wants something from them. _

_Kaorinite: Come on Sailor Moon, hand that file over and I might let you and your little friends live, this time!_

_Sailor Moon exchanges a glance of defeat with each of her friends, who all give small nods. _

_Sailor Moon: (sighs sadly) Then I guess we have no choice, here, take the file!_

_She hands it over without another word. Kaorinite looks triumphant._

_Kaorinite: Now let's see if it works! (She inserts the disc into the large computer behind her)_

_However, instead of showing the top-secret information the trololo music video comes on._

_Trollface: trolololololololo hohohohoho!_

_Kaorinite's left eyelid spasms as the Sailor Scouts sneak away, stifling their giggles. _

**End flashback**

"You certainly are unique for a noblewoman miss Serena!" Fiona couldn't help smiling. "We're here." She announced gesturing to the blue door they had arrived at.

"Your majesty?" She tentatively opened the door and poked her head inside. "You have a visitor, she says she's been searching for you."

"Come in." A soft feminine voice said from the other side.

"I must go now," Fiona gave a small curtsey. "I have more duties to attend to."

"Thanks for the help, it was nice meeting you!" Serena called in the direction of her retreating form before entering one of the many drawing rooms in the palace. At the far end she could see a woman in a light blue gown looking out of the window, who upon hearing her, turned around.

"Huh?" For a moment Serena was slightly taken aback by the crescent moon mark on her forehead the same color as her gown, but then relaxed slightly, at least it confirmed who she was looking for.

"Erm, excuse me your Majesty, are you Queen Luna?" She asked gingerly.

"Why yes I am, or at least I was," The Queen said somewhat sadly. "But who are you? I haven't had any visitors for months, even the people I knew haven't come to see me, it's like they never knew I existed."

"Oh," Serena looked sad for a moment. "But you've got me now! Anyway pleased to meet you your majesty, my name is Serena!" She curtseyed without (fortunately) falling on her face. "And I'm here to bust you out of where you're being held captive!"

"What are you talking about?" Queen Luna looked confused. "It's true I've remained in the palace for most of this time, but I still have the same freedom I've always had, I could still come and go as I please, I only choose not to for the sake of not stirring up trouble!"

"You mean you're not in any danger?" Serena repeated, bewildered.

"Not any danger I know of."

"…Oh." _"Dammit!"_ She yelled in her soul room. _"Just how much danger is someone supposed to be in to save them anyway? Oh well, maybe I can find out more about survivors from the Moon Kingdom!"_

"Well that's good to know!" She gave a big cheesy grin. "Because, erm, you might have valuable information that could be key to protecting the Universe!"

"What kind of information?" Queen Luna looked wary.

"Well you see, one of my huge passions is doing research about the Moon Kingdom, I love all the legends, about the princess and her court, and the Lunarian civilization, I also recently found out I might- just might- have ancestry from Lunarians!" For the first time in her life Serena really hoped she didn't sound too knowledgeable about something. "And I heard that you might be one of the last Lunarians, it'd just be so cool to meet someone else who knows about the Silver Millenium!"

However her cheerful expression faltered as Queen Luna turned grave. "Then I'm sorry, I'm afraid I cannot help you with that, as it would be impossible to find anyone in the Magical Dimension with Lunarian DNA. I myself only contain the slightest amount of Lunarian in my blood, because my family is one of the longest running families in Magix, until now I have not known anyone else to possess any connection to the Silver Millenium, especially seeing as how it hinges on being a real place or just a story. Although…"

She went over to the bookcase and after searching the shelves for a moment, pulled out a white leather book that was smaller than the rest, and came over to hand it to the confused girl in her company.

"When I was your age I too was fascinated in Lunarian magic, this book taught me all about using the moon's spiritual energy and channeling it to your will, apparently the author claims these methods were in fact used by the Lunarians themselves." She smiled at Serena. "I think you should have it, it seems learning about Moon power is very important to you, and this should be of great use to you."

"Huh? Erm thanks a lot your majesty, but why are you giving this to me?" Serena asked, bewildered. "You just met me today!"

"I can see that you came here today to try to help me when you thought I was being mistreated." The Queen told her. "And I can sense that you have a mission of utmost importance and are determined to carry it out and help those around you. One of the things I've learnt from this book is to be able to read people by sensing their energy."

"Well thank you so much! You have no idea how much this means to me!" Serena could hardly contain her joy.

Queen Luna smiled. "You are most welcome. Though I can see from the window that Radius' wedding has broken into an all-out war, so I suggest you leave now if you do not want to be caught in the crossfire." She gestured to the sparks of magic that were being rapidly shot into the sky like fireworks in daylight.

"Oh, ok! Well, I hope I'll see you again soon! I know I've said this before but once again you have no idea how much you just helped me, and the universe too!" Serena gushed as she exited the room. She gave one final wave before she shut the door behind her.

000

"Alright! Finally some kind of lead!" Serena cheered, looking at the book in her hands while moving down the corridor as quickly as her outfit would let her.

"Now all I have to do is get Luna and then we should be good to go! Although I hope Stella and the others have that wedding crashing handled, it sure looked like the guards weren't going down without a fight…"

"Where are you taking me?"

The noise at the end of the corridor made Serena flatten herself against the nearest wall so that she could see the King of Solaria being dragged up the staircase by the woman she could easily identify as Countess Cassandra.

"Oh no that's Stella's father!" She gasped. "Maybe I should go get help…"

However she was saved from making any further decisions as the hostage and captor were instantly followed by Stella in her full Enchantix battle gear.

"Somehow I don't think it'd be right for me to interfere," She murmured knowingly. "This looks like her fight. I shouldn't even be here myself, it was only…"

Whoosh!

Suddenly another flurry of movement from the other end of the corridor caught her ear and she turned around just in time to glimpse three familiar colours- blue, red and purple.

"Oh man," She moaned. "Why am I getting a strange sense of déjà whatsit?"

**flashback**

_Serena is patrolling the Magix museum dressed in a sexy leather cat suit and her red ninja balaclava while the mission impossible theme music plays. She stops to apply some bright red lipstick._

_Suddenly she sees three more reflections in her compact mirror and turns around to see the Trix who all look like wrinkly old hags. _

_Serena smiles and pulls out an AK-47. _

_Serena: Are you ready to dance witch?_

**end flashback**

"It looks like no one else knows they're here, I'm gonna have to go stop them!" She said, starting to race down the hall in their direction.

000

"So why are we here again when Baltor's already drained this place?" Stormy uttered for what must have been the fifteenth time as she and her sisters landed right outside Solaria's library.

"Because apparently he missed a spot which just so happens to be the key to finding his precious crystal!" Darcy sniped back. "_Even if_ we don't know what it looks like!" She tried to mutter to herself but Icy heard her.

"We know it's white, what else do you need, a logo?" She said sharply, opening the door and letting the other two in.

"Ooh let's have a lookie here!" Stormy had already made her way over to the nearest shelf. "Hmm, Sunny dayz- the magical way to brighten your day, Sun spots, Hot spots, haven't these people heard of decent weather?" She exclaimed in frustration, flinging each book she skimmed through onto a pile.

"Do you at least know what it's called?" Darcy tried to start a more specific search.

"It's bound to have the words 'moon' or 'crystal' or 'lunar power' on the front cover, how hard can that be to find?" Icy shrugged, pushing back another huge manuscript.

"What are you doing here?"

The startled exclamation made them look up to see Queen Luna standing in the doorway, a light blue ball of magic hovering in each hands.

"Looking for the Lunar magic book, could you tell us where it is?" Darcy said sarcastically.

However they were all put out by the Queen's strange smile of defiance. "Even if I did have it, I would never hand it over to you!"

"What do you mean you don't have it?!" The Ice witch was losing her temper, though Queen Luna remained undeterred.

"I mean the book is no longer in my hands, it belongs to someone else now, someone who I know will handle it better than you and Baltor ever could!"

"Well? Where is it?" Icy snapped.

"Yeah, where is it?" Stormy added.

For a brief moment it looked like they were going to attack. Queen Luna braced herself, the spheres in her palms growing slightly.

"Stop right there witches!"

"Huh? Who's there?" The three of them looked around, confused, Darcy doing so with slightly less enthusiasm.

"Your worst nightmare that's who! For I am Eternal Sailor Moon!" The mysterious masked warrior announced confidentially, appearing from behind a pillar and striking her trademark pose.

Queen Luna stood frozen to her place. "Sailor Moon," She whispered.

"That girl!" Icy seethed, she remembered the first time they had met.

"I fight for love and justice in the name of the Moon! Normally I'm the good cop but seeing as my dear friends aren't here…" Sailor Moon pointed at them. "On behalf of the moon you're going down!"

"I doubt that!" Stormy snorted, magenta lightning crackling between her fingers. "Electric sparks!" She tried to grab the girl to give her an electric shock but Sailor Moon skipped neatly out of the way.

"Damn it!" The witch of lightning was becoming increasingly more annoyed with every blast of magic she threw, and the Sailor Scout missed. After deflecting one of the attacks and sending the sender flying backwards, she made it over to the Solarian royal.

"Quick your majesty!" She hissed urgently. "You have to get somewhere safe!"

"But-"

"It's ok." Behind the mask the Queen saw a blue eye wink. "I'll take it from here."

"…Right," With that, Queen Luna picked up her skirts and left the room in a hurry.

"Over here loser!" Icy yelled, clearly wanting a rematch. "It's payback time! Icicle barrage!"

"Payback for what?" Sailor Moon enquired innocently after deflecting the ice crystals. "You mean when I threw a pizza at you?"

"Grrr!" If she wanted to antagonize the ice witch she was certainly doing a splendid job of it.

"C'MON SAILOR TRASH WE'RE TAKING THIS OUTSIDE!" With these words Icy blasted a hole in one of the glass windows and zoomed right through it with her sisters, most likely to start inflicting torment on the people outside to provoke her opponent.

"How am I supposed to get up there?" Sailor Moon panicked. "I can't even fly!"

It was only now she noticed the huge white pair of wings on the back on her fuku.

"Maybe now's the time to see if these work or not!" She thought determinedly, they had to, for the sake of this kingdom and the many lives at stake. She ran up towards the high window and, when close enough, jumped up with all her might, willing the wings to flap. She squeezed her eyes shut even when feeling herself pass through the hole and only opened them when she could feel the cool breeze across her face.

Trying to turn around she let out a cry of delight to see that her wings were indeed flapping back and forth like a bird's.

"Wow!" She squealed excitedly. " I wonder why I never used them before? Oh well, I've got a fight to finish!"

She zoomed up to meet the Trix who were all hovering over the garden where the wedding should have taken place.

"Alright witches you got one chance to leave on your own or I send you back to where you came from!" She shouted above the gusts of cold wind that were trying to close in around her, courtesy of Stormy.

"Not without that book!" Icy replied threateningly.

"Then I'm afraid I have no choice." Sailor Moon looked solemn for a moment. Then, summoning her scepter she conjured up various bolts of white light and started firing at the three witches, who in turn retaliated with their own magic.

"THIS. IS. SPARTAAAAA!" Sailor Moon yelled, each power bolt becoming stronger with each battle cry.

From down on the ground the spectators could only look on in fear or hide under the tables to protect themselves. The 5 remaining winx, now all in Enchantix form, had disintegrated their convergence force field now they were no longer being attacked, and they swore they could hear badass battle music playing in the background.

"It's that Sailor Moon girl!" Tecna exclaimed as she recognized the familiar fuku.

"She's fighting the Trix all by herself!" Musa gasped.

"Wow she's strong!" Layla was watching every epic fighting move the Senshi was making, both dodging and deflecting attacks but also sending back strong silver blasts on the end of her scepter.

"Should we go up and help her?" Flora looked worried.

Bloom was just watching silently. While she was always up for getting into a fight with witches, it looked like Sailor Moon was doing too good a job of it by herself, and anyone who tried getting in the way would be on the receiving ends of blast from both sides.

"THIS, HAS GONE," Sailor Moon grit her teeth, deflecting an ice crystal and a dark energy orb at the same time. "FAR. ENOUGH!"

"EVIL WITCHES! BEGONE!" She bellowed, finally pointing her scepter in their direction and firing a final burst of magic that caught the trio full on and sent them hurtling far off into the distance.

Now that Stormy had gone the weather seemed to calm down immediately and Sailor Moon flew down to get closer to her crowd and find her cat.

"Never fear citizens! Your kingdom is safe!" She announced, "For now anyways!"

One by one the dazed members of court burst into applause but the Sailor Scout scarcely noticed, instead scouring the scene around her for Luna, and finding her near the gates.

"Well I'll be off then!" She said quickly, preparing to take off.

"Wait, Sailor Moon!"

"Huh?" She turned around to see it was Bloom who had called out. "Thank you for helping us, but who are you?" The fire fairy asked, desperately wanting an answer.

"Well… that's my special secret! Peace peoples!" With that she zoomed off and jumped behind the palace wall.

"Quick girls! Let's follow her!" Bloom told the others and they fluttered over to the gates but when they flew over the walls they were surprised to see no one there.

"She's gone," Flora said quietly.

However they were soon distracted by the arrival of Stella and King Radius in the main tent along with a tied-up Countess and her daughter.

"You totally did it Stell!" Bloom exclaimed happily, flying over to hug her friend.

"And we're still having the party!" The princess of Solaria told her. Then she saw that some of her friends still held somewhat confused looks.

"What'd I miss?"

000

Meanwhile back at Alfea no one on campus seemed to notice a giant hedgehog appear behind the building.

"Dinsdale." It said suspiciously before disappearing into thin air.

"Man what a day!" Serena collapsed, exhausted onto a green armchair in the dormitory.

"It appears you found something useful though." Luna was eyeing the book in her lap.

"You're right, but we'll make a start on it tomorrow when I'm feeling more up to it." Serena was too tired to argue. "Besides I think I've found someone I could save to get the Enchantix, the Queen with your name who gave me this!"

"Hang on, didn't you save her from the witches earlier?" Luna asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Surely if she did have strong enough Lunarian DNA you would have transformed then?"

There was a silence in which a piece of tumbleweed blew between them and across the rest of the room. Then…

"DAMMIT!"


	12. beginnings, buddies and badass battles

"Failed again, I see?"

Baltor did not really need to voice this question aloud, even if he hadn't been watching their every move on Solaria from the crystal ball, one look at the bedraggled state of the three witches and the dull look of defeat in their eyes told him everything he needed to know.

"Look it wasn't our fault, ok? It was that stupid Sailor Moon!" Icy snapped.

"Yeah, she showed up again! And she seems to be packing some power!" Stormy rubbed a bruise on her back. However this comment seemed to amuse Baltor for some reason, which she rapidly picked up on. "What's so funny?!" She scowled up at him.

"It's funny you should say that Stormy, because thanks to my invenitus magic, I have discovered that the Silver Imperium Crystal is guarded by Sailor Moon herself! Observe," He conjured up three images, one of the Winx and Serena in Magix right before he made his announcement, another when the fairies were fighting against the Trix in their Enchantix, and the final one, an enlarged image of the Senshi.

"Ever since we arrived that day I knew I could sense its power. I just didn't know it at the time. Even before we launched our attack, it was somewhere in Magix," He looked at the first two images, as if he believed the object to be hidden in the moments.

"Wait, who's that girl?" Darcy pointed at the still of Serena, sitting with the famous fairies at the pizza place. "She looks kinda familiar…"

"Who cares?" Icy dismissed her thoughts with a wave of her manicured hand. "She's obviously not important to us! But how do you know Sailor Moon has the crystal Baltor?" She got up to join the wizard, her light blue eyes wide with the kind of curiousity that only those hungry for obtaining power could have.

"My spell has told me that her source of power comes from that gold brooch," He pointed to it with a creepy smile that made even the trix shudder slightly. "That must be where the crystal is kept!"

"So how are we supposed to find her?" Darcy raised an eyebrow.

"I think I have an idea. There is a planet distantly related to Tides. The Queen is also known to have a Sailor transformation, perhaps she is in league with Sailor Moon." Baltor told her. "And if not, there are plenty of magic and spells just waiting for me to absorb them!"

000

Over the years of becoming close friends with Minako Aino Serena had learned to expect that the Venusian could perform even the impossible.

Which is why she really shouldn't have been surprised when her phone started ringing during a magic theory class.

_Let's play a love game, play a love game_

_Do you want love or you want fame_

_Are you in the game? _

_Dans le love game,_

"Ugggh," She slowly tilted her head up to see that everyone, and she meant everyone, was looking her direction, even Professor Paladium.

"Uh hahaha… I really gotta take this." Her tone was quick and serious as she scuttled out of the classroom of which she had only just entered a few minutes ago, not waiting for permission from the teacher.

Once she was safely around the corner she jammed it up to her ear. "WHAT?" She half snapped, half yelled.

"Ooh someone clearly hasn't had enough to eat today!" The singsong sound of Mina replied from the other side.

Choosing to ignore the suspiciously timed grumble her stomach gave, Serena was not amused.

"What's up Mina, I'm in a class and do you know what your ringtone is?"

"Sure! It's Lovegame by Lady Gagaaaa…ohh shit."

Serena couldn't help facepalming as the penny took a minute to drop for her best friend. "So anyway what's up?"

"I was actually gonna tell you that we were all scheduling a live chat tomorrow, you know, so we can catch up with stories of our latest adventures! I know I have quite the tales to tell!" Even over the phone she could tell that Mina was doing her impression of an annoying detective who wouldn't share their inside-jokes.

"Like how you ran off to Disney world with your Egyptian pen pal?" Serena adopted a suspiciously light tone.

"OMA how did you know?" Mina gasped. "Well technically we've made plans but haven't set off yet 'cause I'm still not done filming, only a few days left to be exact! I will miss hanging out with (insert name of celebrity) and co! Anyway I'll save it for the chat! Unless you like playing hooky…"

"You know this may seem hard to believe Mina but I get the feeling this class is important, maybe if I keep my head down I can find out why I was even invited here in the first place!"

Oh my Aphrodite what have they done to you my twin?! But it just so happens I've gotta go too, my latte will get cold! I'm laughing on a fast camel!"

With that the connection was cut off. Serena pocketed her phone with a small smile before strolling back to the hall, at least now there was something to look forward too.

However creeping back into class without attracting attention was easier said than done as all eyes were on her as soon as she came into view.

"Uh… hahaha, it was just my mom." She said quietly, with an uncomfortable cheesy grin.

Professor Paladium merely gave a small sigh; somehow he knew no good could come of questioning her. "Very well, you may return to your seat."

Serena took this chance to slither up the stairs and slide into her seat while the teacher resumed his lecture. The girl next to her gave a friendly smile.

"Don't worry, you didn't miss much." She whispered. "He was just summing up what we learnt at the beginning. You can copy off me if you want."

"Thanks!" Serena smiled gratefully, taking a look at the notes. "I'm Serena by the way."

"I'm Mirta." The girl grinned. "You're new here aren't you? How are you finding Alfea?"

"S'ok I guess," Serena replied, scribbling down bullet points on uses of the hemian crystal in 15th century torture chambers. " I like the pink walls, and the lessons are definitely funner than my old school, but I still can't quite get my head round it all!"

"I've been there," Mirta nodded knowingly. "Before I transferred here I studied at Cloud Tower for almost a year. Believe me it's definitely a nice change!"

"Cloud Tower, the school for witches, right?" Serena asked. She had heard some not-so-nice comments about the rival school from random students ever since she had arrived.

"Yeah, I still have friends who go there but it just wasn't for me, you know?" The redhead shrugged.

"Hang on, can you still earn fairy transformations if you're a witch?" Serena was a little confused. 

"Fortunately because I was only in my first year of high school I was able to switch. You see if you practice enough light magic you can still become a fairy, though I gotta admit the switch did take a lot out of me the first week!" Mirta laughed, slightly embarrassed.

"Whoa so if you're full of positive energy you can get henshins like an enchantix!" Serena smiled slowly, so it was possible for her after all! "Do you have one yet?" She asked curiously.

"What? Oh no, at the moment I'm only at magic winx level!" Mirta replied. "I'm still trying to get my charmix!" 

"Oh yeah Bloom and the others told me about those!" Serena remembered. "Those accessories right?"

Mirta nodded. "The winx are the only girls in school to have gotten their enchantix at this stage!"

Suddenly Faragonda's voice sounded in Serena's head. _"I would advise you to spend a lot of time with Bloom and her friends, they may be able to help you."_

"_Now why didn't I think of that sooner?"_ She pondered as the drilling noise of the school bell marked the end of the lesson.

"Thanks for the notes!" She told Mirta as they began to gather up their things.

"No problem! We've got a few classes together so I'll see you around?"

"You bet!"

After giving each other a friendly wave goodbye the girls went their separate ways.

"_What a nice girl!"_ Serena thought happily as she strolled down the corridor. _"And she may not know it but she's given me an idea! I'll ask Bloom about the enchantix, she wouldn't have been able to save anyone either if her realm was destroyed!"_

Sure enough she caught sight of the familiar fairy just about to open the door to their dormitory.

"Heyyy Bloom?" She sidled up to the fire fairy. "I've been hearing around school that you have an enchantix, even though your planet was destroyed, am I right?"

"Uh, yeah," Bloom answered, unsure where this was going.

"Well I need to get one too, but like you I've got no one to save! Might I ask how you did it?" Serena batted her long black eyelashes.

"Well, I went to train on the isle of pyros, Ms Faragonda sent me." The flame haired teen told her.

"Huh? How come she let you go on a private field trip when the school term's still going on?"

Was it just Serena or did Bloom look a little confused at why she was asking? It didn't seem so obvious to her!

"I had to get stronger, its only way I'm ever going to beat Baltor." Bloom explained.

"Erm explain to me how you're gonna take on this guy with a huge stash of power in that stolen treasure box, all by **yourself**?" Serena was trying to see how it would work out.

"I have to stop him, we both have powers from the Dragon fire!" Bloom exclaimed. "And he destroyed my realm and my parents!"

"Okaay I think we're kinda getting off topic here… the point is, I need to get an Enchantix, d'you think I could get it by going on the dragon field trip too?"

At this Bloom looked slightly uncomfortable. "Well, Ms Faragonda knew I'd be able to handle it, seeing as I'd already passed the charmix level and fought evil like the trix and lord darkar. No offence but it's too dangerous for you, seeing as you've only been here a few weeks, and judging by your last magical battle defense lesson, you can't transform."

"Well aren't you a little ray of sunshine," Serena deadpanned. She was sick of her ideas getting shot down like sitting ducks. "You don't know that! No one even stops to wonder what I might be capable of!" With that she swiftly sped into her own room, shutting the door behind her.

"Wait, Serena!" Bloom called out, but it was no use, the blonde had already left.

000

"Argh!" The Moon Princess slammed the dormitory door behind her as she flounced over to her dresser.

"What's up with you?" Luna asked, surprised at the girl's bad mood.

"Bloom the fire fairy, that's what! I can't believe her! Why must everyone assume I can't do anything for myself?!" Serena rummaged around in her bag, flinging things left right and centre. "If she got stronger without saving anyone then surely I can do the same right? It's as if people just want to think that I'm some stupid spineless dumb blonde who can't do anything right! Newsflash! Just because I happen to prefer peaceful solutions over endless fighting…" She trailed off in her thoughts as she found what she was looking for.

"I'd better see how my people dealt with times like these." She held the Lunarian hardback out in front of her, ready to start reading…

"Serena?"

The familiar voice behind the door made her odangoes almost jump off her head and she quickly hid the book under her pillow just as Bloom and Flora entered the room. _"Speak of the devil"_ She muttered under her breath.

"We were thinking about Magix for ice cream later, would you like to come with us?" The redhead asked.

At the sound of her favorite snack Serena instantly gave a big smile, despite her previous negativity.

"Why I'd lov- OW!" She rubbed her arm where Luna had swiped it, scowling at the culprit. "I mean, I'd love to, but I've got a lot of, erm- schoolwork to catch up on at the moment! Sorry!"

"Are you sure? There's gonna be a sale so there might be none left by tomorrow!"

"Ooh don't have to worry about that anymore!" Serena giggled. "Not since I made friends with the best chocolate creator in the business!"

**flashback**

_Willy Wonka: Agh! A monster is attacking my factory!_

_Sailor Moon: Stop Nega trash! I am Sailor Moon and you'll pay for trying to destroy my favorite snacks! _

_She kicks it in the face, sending it flying across the room. Willy Wonka orders the Oompa Loompahs to deploy their splatzookas that shoot sticky chocolate at the youma, trapping it in its place._

_Sailor Moon: SILVER MOON CRYSTAL FULL POWER!_

_In a flash of blinding light the youma is destroyed. _

_Willy Wonka: Thank you for saving my factory, girl with extraordinary sense of style!_

_Sailor Moon: The pleasure's totally all mine Mr Wonka sir! Please could I get an autograph? _

_She hands him a piece of paper, which he signs. _

_Willy Wonka: I have decided to make a new dessert: Wonka's Silver Moon surprise! _

_Sailor Moon (jumping up and down excitedly): Ooh! Can it have marshmallows in it? And ice cream that doesn't melt?_

_Willy Wonka: Of course! But I haven't decided on a secret ingredient yet; want to accompany me on adventures of imagination while I think on it?_

_Sailor Moon (grinning from ear to ear): In the name of yummy chocolately goodness challenge accepted!_

_They take off in the great glass elevator to infinity and beyond. _

**Flashback**

"And then we fought an evil mutant racing-bug-candy king-thing with liquorice guns loaded with starbursts!" Serena sighed, wiping her eyes. "Ah memories!" She didn't seem to notice the others staring at her.

"Well, it looks like you're pretty busy, sorry for interrupting you!" Flora said with a small sweatdrop.

"No problem Flora!" Serena beamed, still recalling her candy-themed adventures.

"Well if you need us, just shout, ok?" The nature fairy told her as the others left the room, before letting herself out and shutting the door behind her.

"Do you think she's still mad at me for what I said earlier?" Bloom looked worried.

"Just give it some time, it'll all work out!" Flora reassured her. "Besides, she looks fine to me! It's best if we let her get on with her work, it must be important if she puts it before food!"

000

Delighted at finally having some alone time Serena sat cross-legged on the cream floor and pulled out the book on lunar magic.

"Ok let's have a lookie!" She flipped it open and skimmed through the contents.

"What? You've gotta be kidding me!" She exclaimed. "Most of these exercises can only be done at night!"

"Well that does make sense, seeing as how the Moon is present at that time." Luna noted with a hint of amusement. "You'll just have to train at night!"

"Oh hell no! I am not giving up anymore of my rest-time for this! There's just gotta be another way to achieve this damned power!" Serena frustratedly ran her fingers through her golden hair in desperation.

"Isn't there anything you can do during the day?" Luna padded onto Serena's lap so she could see for herself. "Ah, this looks promising- energy sensing!"

"What the hell does that even mean?" Serena scoffed. "Sounds like something the Negaverse would do!"

"Look here!" Luna said impatiently, gesturing to the page with her paw. "It says here that through certain meditation exercises you can learn to sense a person's emotions, intent and even develop healing powers!"

"So how do I do that?" Serena held the book up to the light. "Hmm, seems easy enough, just like those meditation classes Raye runs at the temple every Sunday! The question is where and when do I do these?"

Suddenly her blue eyes sparkled. "I know, I'll go and crash at Raye's!"

"Serena!" Luna reprimanded. "You can't just come and go from here when you want, you must remember this is still a school! Not to mention Raye's busy enough already!"

"Party pooper." Serena stuck out her tongue before delving into her handbag for her mobile. "But I'm not good with this meditation malarkey so the least she can do is give me some tips!"

"Fine." Luna sighed, leaping up to the open window. "If you need me, I'll be in the garden."

As the mau vanished from sight, Serena pressed Raye's speed dial and waited expectantly for her friend to take the call.

"Serena?"

"Hey Raye!" Serena was positively beaming. "How would you like to help your future Queen in a quest that could save the world?"

"What d'you want?" The shrine maiden sighed, as if she was used to this.

"Uh, I kinda need a place to meditate for a while?"

"You meditate?" She scowled at the laughter in Raye's voice. "No seriously, what do you want?"

"I seriously need a place to meditate!" The blonde repeated shrilly.

"Who are you and what have you done with my friend Serena?! Do you even remember what happened last time you tried that?"

**Flashback**

_The two girls are each sitting cross-legged on a cushion in the main room. They are both wearing miko robes. Raye has one eye shut but the other one is looking irritably at Serena, who can't seem to sit still. _

_Raye (trying to keep her patience): Now we inhale, and exhale. Inhale, and-_

_Serena (somewhat hyper): Have I achieved inner peace yet?_

_Raye (calm tone is somewhat wavering): No Serena, if you did, you wouldn't be jumping up and down in your seat, like you are now. _

_Serena (tries to get back into position): Ok._

_5 minutes later._

_Serena: Have I achieved inner peace yet?_

_Raye (still calm): Not yet._

_30 minutes later_

_Serena: Have I achieved it yet?_

_Raye: No._

_10 minutes later_

_Serena: Have I. achieved. Inner peace. Yet. _

_Raye: Yes_

_Serena (brightens): Really?_

_Raye: No!_

_15 minutes later_

_Serena opens her mouth; Raye braces herself, clenching her fists._

_Serena: Wanna go get something to eat?_

_Raye: …Ok!_

_They walk off into the sunset, discussing the pros and cons of disposable chopsticks. _

**End flashback**

"You know you've really gotta tell me what your REAL ingredient is for your special tea!" Serena grumbled before taking a pleading tone. "C'mon Raye! Help me out here! Something tells me I really need to do this!"

The princess of Mars sighed apologetically. "Look I wish I could help you, but it just so happens I'm working overtime; grandpa's decided to set up that martial arts class again, so the place'll be too noisy anyway, but I'd recommend any space that's quiet and preferably light, surely this fairy school should have somewhere like that! By the way is this for some kind of homework on growing your own fairy dust or something?"

"You're checking in for the live chat tomorrow, right?" Serena confirmed. "I've got plenty of info for all! I mean I'd love to tell you right now, but I think this should be a Scout conference! Be sure to tell the others I'll be there!"

"Sure! Lita already knows and Mina's probably calling Ami right now."

"Neat! Laters," With that Serena flipped her phone shut with a smile.

"Well… If I do have the place to myself," She looked around the bedroom. "Might as well get started!"

000

Meanwhile Bloom was sitting outside with Flora, Layla and Musa. After they had visited Serena, Tecna had decided that her time would be better-spent researching fireproof spells. The others had not disagreed with her, as they knew she was trying to find more methods of combating Baltor's dragon fire.

"So how's it going with Riven?" Layla was asking Musa. The fairy of music sighed.

"I've decided to keep it going a bit longer and see what happens." She explained.

"That's a good idea." Flora nodded wisely. "But how come you changed your mind?"

"I don't know, something Serena said the other day sorta hit close to home, you know?"

"What did she say?" Bloom asked curiously. 

"She said that there are lots of couples out there who aren't able to see each other as much as they want, not like us," Musa told her. "And I realized it'd be unfair if I threw away an opportunity without at least trying to make it work first!"

"As long as it's your decision." Layla sat back in her seat and stared at the blue sky. "I don't know anything about this 'Nabu' that my parents want me to marry!"

"Maybe they'll arrange you to meet him first!" Bloom suggested. "Then they can't go through with it if you don't get on with each other!"

"Hmm. That Ophir guy at the museum sure didn't help my outlook on guys at the moment! Even though Sailor Moon fought Baltor, she didn't stop him getting the Agador box!"

However, before they could say anything more they were distracted by the sight of Ms Faragonda approaching.

"Oh thank goodness I've found you girls!" She exclaimed with a sigh of relief. "Tell me, have you seen Serena?"

Flora shook her head. "Sorry Ms F, I haven't seen her since our last class!"

"She's probably still in her room," Bloom suggested. "She said she had work to do."

Faragonda gave a small sigh of relief. "That's good. I'm afraid that it might be too dangerous for her to leave Alfea at the moment without company!"

"Why do you say that Ms F?" Musa asked curiously.

"Serena's magic is rather…unique. If Baltor were to find about it the results could be catastrophic." She said sadly. "She came here to become Enchantix level like you, but I confess, I don't know how she can achieve it."

"Hang on, if Bloom was able to get her Enchantix without saving anyone, surely Serena could too, right?" Layla wondered.

"Maybe if all of you could help her. But this is a mission is of the utmost importance, that I can only entrust to you! You have to protect her at all costs!" She looked at each of the girls, especially the red haired ringleader.

"We won't let you down Ms F." Bloom nodded with a look of determination.

000

So far Serena liked to think she was making progress meditation-wise. She had completed most of the breathing and calming exercises for opening the mind and enabling chi to flow through her body. It really wasn't that different to Raye's spiritual yoga practice.

"I wonder if I've gained any new side powers yet," She wondered, looking around the empty room from her cross-legged position on the carpet. If all truly had gone according to plan she would be able to sense the emotions and honest intentions of the next person who would walk through the door.

Apparently it also worked on animals because when Luna jumped in through the open window Serena could feel a mixture of calm satisfaction and curiosity coming from the cat.

"Had a nice walk?" She enquired innocently.

"As a matter of fact yes I have!" Luna answered proudly. "Now those irritating flying pets won't be bothering me anytime soon and I managed to avoid that blue rabbit of Bloom's in the garden. I don't want to be rude but I didn't want half the flowerbed ending up in my fur! Speaking of which, is that even a natural color for rabbits?"

"Says the cat with the crescent moon bald spot," Serena turned back to her book.

"For the last time it is not a bald spot!"

The girl couldn't help giggling at Luna's small tantrum; she knew she had hit a sore point.

"Anyway, how's the training coming along?" The little outburst forgotten, Luna padded over to peek over her shoulder.

"I'm actually doing pretty good! Raye was right, it feels great! Maybe I should do this more often…"

"What do you mean maybe?" Luna was indignant. "You're doing it more often whether you want to or not, if you want to get stronger!"

"Sheesh calm down Luna! I said it was going great, didn't I? Oh…" Suddenly she sat up straight, remembering something else from her dream.

"Luna, what's the Sailor Alliance?"

The cat froze, slowly turning her head up to face her. "How do you know about the Alliance?"

Serena looked down. "When we arrived here, I met Queen Serenity in a dream. She was the one who told me about the enchantix. She said that it was earned if princesses weren't part of the Sailor Alliance."

Luna leapt over her shoulder so she was in front of Serena. "Well it's about time you should learn about it, after all you will need to keep it going as part of your royal duties." She gave a proud smile. "And you're almost eighteen now, and have already mastered your Sailor Scout potential!"

"But how come you never told me about it?" Serena enquired.

"When the Silver Millenium was still around, it was tradition for the members to have access to the information once they came of age and had completed their training. Don't forget, you and the others were only fourteen when we first met, and let's just say you had a long way to go before you were ready!"

"Yeah, don't push it!" Serena raised an eyebrow; she still wasn't completely forgiving of the many complaints she had received from her feline companion in those early years, even if she knew deep down that she had needed to whip herself into shape. "So when were you gonna tell us anyway?"

However at this Luna looked downcast. "If I'm being perfectly honest I wasn't completely sure how I would do that. For the initiation, we would need access to the documents of the Alliance. It is the rule for every planet in the deal to have the documents in their archives, but I don't need to remind you what happened to the Moon Kingdoms…" She trailed off. "Unless the other planets outside our Solar system still have them, I'm afraid we don't have much of a lead."

The two sat in silence for a few moments as they tried to think of a solution. Then all of a sudden, an idea lit up in Serena's head like a light bulb.

"Wait a sec, Luna we do know other Senshi outside the solar system! Do you think any of them will have the information?"

The cat looked up in interest. "It wouldn't hurt to ask. If their planets are back to normal, they most likely all have it in their archives somewhere, why don't you try contacting them?"

"Good idea!" Serena nodded, before picking up her phone. She had a particular Sailor Scout in mind who she knew would be more than happy to help.

000

"Please enter your destination." The robotic voice of the portal machine announced once Serena stepped into it.

"Mermaid please." She spoke loudly and confidently.

At once the technology whirred into action and the buzzing city of Magix disappeared before her eyes as she felt a strange pull around her waist, as if she was in an elevator.

After only a few seconds the machine stopped and she stepped out, slightly dizzy.

"Wow, it sure is efficient!" She remarked, looking at her watch before stopping for a second to look around at the breathtaking beauty of the watery world before her.

"I really should be getting used to this by now." She muttered to herself. It wasn't the first time she had visited.

"Princess Serenity?"

She turned around to face the two girls in servant attire, whom were both bowing deeply.

"Our Queen is waiting for you. Please let us escort you to the palace." One instructed politely.

"Sure!" Serena followed them down the white marble path, which seemed to be the only area of solid ground for miles. She couldn't help but gaze at the pristine marble buildings that rose out of the water on either side. However the most impressive was their destination, a huge white palace that faintly resembled the Taj Mahal.

As they neared the entrance the maids each took a door and opened them in perfect symmetry to reveal a spacious hall with décor of various shades of blue. At the far wall a young woman in stately robes sat on an indigo throne. An elegant platinum crown rested on top of her light blue hair, which was so long it almost reached the floor. But the most unusual aspects of her appearance were the two white lines across her face that formed an x shape. The sides that contained each of her eyes were covered in cobalt eye shadow.

"Princess Serenity! It is good to see you after so long!" She exclaimed happily at the sight of the approaching teen, before getting up from her seat and making a low bow.

At this Serena couldn't help but sweatdrop. "Reiko we've gone over this, you can just call me Serena, everyone else does!"

Reiko hurriedly stood up, stumbling slightly. "You are right, I am sorry." She giggled, embarrassed. "So what do I owe the pleasure of this visit Serena? You did not mention any details in our phone conversation."

"Actually I was hoping you could help me with something," Serena told her. "What do you know about the Sailor Alliance?"

Reiko's eyes widened slightly. "You mean you do not know? I assumed your guardians would have reminded you after the fall of the Silver Millenium… Retasu!" She gestured to a servant girl with her hair tied back in two dark green plaits. "I require the book on the alliance from the library! And would you also organize some tea and cakes to be brought up to the conservatory?"

"Yes your majesty." Retasu curtseyed before promptly exiting. Reiko turned back to Serena.

"We must discuss this over tea, revising archives makes me hungry!"

At this the Moon princess's stomach gave an audible growl. "You and me both," She grinned, wondering how they had ever been enemies.

000

Back at Alfea the Winx had arrived at their dormitory and were now outside Stella and Serena's room.

"Stella? Serena? Are any of you there?" Bloom hurriedly knocked on the door.

"Alright! I'm coming, I'm coming! Sheesh!" It swung open to reveal the princess of Solaria. Judging from the slimy green facial paste coating the whole of her visage it was not difficult to see why she wasn't exactly thrilled at leaping into action.

"What's up? I thought we were going in a few hours! Can you at least give me a minute to freshen up?"

"Have you seen Serena?"

"Huh? Oh that reminds me! Serena left this note that said to tell you that she'll be going out to visit someone and won't be back til later." Stella picked up the pink piece of paper to show them.

"What? But Ms Faragonda just said that it was too dangerous for her to go out alone! How are we gonna explain this to Ms F?" Bloom groaned.

"Did she give any specific indication of where she was going?" Tecna enquired.

"All I know is what it says here!" Stella dumped it in her hands.

"_Dear Stella_

_I'm going out to visit a friend for the afternoon so if the others come looking for me, tell them I won't be back until about 6 in the evening. _

_Later fairies_

_Serena_

_Ps. don't even think about going near my 6 hearts princess makeup collection, or any of my stuff for that matter. I __**will**__ find out and Luna is armed." _

"She totally wasn't kidding about the last part!" Stella sulked, holding up her hand to show angry red scratch marks.

"Does she mean those friends of hers back on earth?" Musa wondered aloud, sitting down on one of the beds in the room.

"Hmm, I don't think so! If that was the case she would have gone to Earth and wouldn't need to check in with them afterwards!" Tecna noted thoughtfully.

"But what are we supposed to do now?" Flora asked, looking to the leader of the group.

"For now all we can do is wait until she gets back." Bloom sighed.

000

Ten minutes since exchanging their greetings the two royals were sitting comfortably on a satin sofa in the large airy conservatory, the small table in front of them holding an assortment of decorated cupcakes on a cake stand. Reiko was leafing through the pages of a large book on her lap.

"Here it is, the creation of the Sailor transformation." She leant over to show Serena.

"It originated from the Silver Millenium, the Moon Kingdom in fact."

"The Moon Kingdom?" Serena gasped. "So my ancestors first discovered it?" 

The cyanette nodded. "In fact it was created through the power of your crystal. The first queen of the Silver Millenium was the one who created the crystal, and in order to harness the power, creating a battle form known as the Sailor Henshin." Indeed the page depicted a woman holding a bright white light between her hands. Her eyes and hair (styled in the Lunarian fashion) were both as white as pearls. In fact white and silver were the only colours of her Sailor Scout fuku.

"Whoa." Serena stared at the image in awe, feeling shivers run down her spine. "So how come she needed to create the crystal in the first place?"

"She needed a power strong enough to defeat the sorceress Metallia, as you can imagine the two were polar opposites, one light and one dark, and each fighting for control of the universe. Due to the crystal, your ancestor was able to win the battle and seal away Metallia. When the time came, while Metallia became what would be known as the Negaverse, the Queen gave the rest of her life essence to the crystal and passed it down to her daughter, who would then become Queen Serenity."

The next picture was of the Senshi handing the crystal to a teenage version of the Queen Serena knew and loved.

"My mother," She murmured softly. She fumbled in her pocket before bringing out her heart shaped brooch.

"So you're telling me that the spirit of all the Queens of the Moon kingdom are contained inside this crystal?" She asked, staring down at the object in question.

"Yes, when she created the crystal it merged with her starseed, making them one and the same. And whenever the next heir to the Moon inherits the crystal, it becomes their starseed as well."

"So that would explain…" Serena trailed off. She didn't need to remind Reiko that nearly all of her previous enemies had been after the powerful object, seeing as the young woman had once been one of them.

"But that still doesn't explain how the other Sailor Scouts have the henshin too." She continued, hoping to find out more.

"Well, as a result of creating this power, the queen chose to share it with the most valuable members of her court, creating an alliance to unite them all. These not only involve the kingdoms of your court but also many others, including mine, Chu, Coronis and Mau- the home of your guardians Luna and Artemis."

"Makes sense, makes sense," Serena took another sip of her tea. "Wait, when," She knew this was a touchy subject for the bluette. "Galaxia created the Sailor wars does that mean all the starseeds she took were from planets that belonged to this group?"

Reiko nodded. "Only the Queens or princesses of their courts are able to have the Sailor transformation. All the realms that do not fall under this category either become guardian fairies or witches."

"Like all those girls in Magix," Serena realized aloud. Then something else dawned that should have been so obvious to her that she couldn't believe she hadn't thought about it before. "So it's only the rulers who become Sailor Scouts, right? What if the Queen has the henshin but there's also a princess, when does the princess get the transformation?"

"There is a special ceremony for when a princess receives it, not unlike a coronation. Speaking of which," Reiko leant closer meaningful grin. "When is yours going to take place?"

"What? Ooh I didn't think that was gonna happen for a while! Trista once said I'd be 22 but now it seems a bit closer, personally I think it was kinda unclear!" The blonde put one arm behind her head with a nervous grin before becoming serious.

"Hang on, the only reason I'm stuck at magic school is apparently I need the fairy transformation to ease into the power of being queen. I still don't get that- I mean how much more is the Earth and moon to handle than, say, Mars? Oh," She trailed off in realization, her shoulders slumping in the process.

"I guess since Darien and I will be working together we're kinda pooling our planets." She said sheepishly.

Reiko looked at Serena with a serious expression that was quite uncommon for the bluette. "Do you know how your guardians found out about the fairy college?"

"Nope." Serena shook her head; she actually wondered why she hadn't thought to ask in the first place.

"It's because my friends and I informed them about it. We knew that your coronation would be imminent, but when it did happen, it would be a momentous occasion, something that would bring not only your world but the rest of the Alliance into a new age."

She momentarily looked down to turn a page. Once she found what she was looking for, she pointed a manicured fingernail at the picture.

"It will be the creation of Crystal Tokyo."

Serena's sapphire orbs widened. There in front of her lay the image of the future kingdom, the five crystal points surrounding it and standing tall in their respective colors.

"Not too long ago, Sailor Pluto paid us a visit. She told us that she had seen a great darkness approaching and it was blocking her from seeing the future events. The only thing she could envisage was the vision two starseeds: the Golden and Silver Crystals. They were converging together to form a new entity, which would in turn give them both more power."

"But what does all of this mean?" Serena asked anxiously, desperately trying to get her head around this piece of information. "How come Trista didn't tell us this?"

Reiko smiled softly. "She knew that we guarded the archives of the Alliance, and therefore you would come to one of us, seeking our help. She also knew that we, myself in particular, would be willing to assist you, after all you did for us."

"That still doesn't explain going to Alfea."

"The school for fairies has many sources and techniques of magic at its disposal. We figured that if you attended, you could boost your power and energy levels to prepare for the future. Might I ask, how are you doing at the moment?"

"Oh, I'm doing great!" Serena told her happily. "I already found a book about Lunarian magic! It's weird actually liking learning for once!"

"I am glad!" Reiko beamed. "If there's anything further I can do to be of service…"

"Are you kidding? Look Reiko," Serena looked her in the eye. "You and the others have already proven yourselves to me! All of that is in the past! Besides, thanks to my new powers I can now sense people's auras and the one I've seen today tells me that you are a kind and loyal person, who does not have it in their nature to be evil!"

"Princess…" The Mermaid Queen's eyes watered. "I am honoured to be a member of your court."

"Likewise Sailor Mermaid." Serena nodded. "Likewise."

000

"So do you remember the plan?" Baltor asked the trix. They were currently flying over the main city of Mermaid.

"Of course!" Icy replied obviously, seeming pissed that he couldn't count on them to remember the simplest of assignments. "Stormy and I go for the Queen while Darcy…"

"Steals the spells! I get it!" The dark witch cut in, in a bored tone.

"Just checking. You three haven't exactly been up to scratch judging from your past performances." Baltor said condescendingly.

"Ugh! Just look at this place!" Stormy remarked, looking down at the scenery below her. "I've never seen so much water! It's like a big pool!" She was secretly anxious about what kind of watery magic she would be up against from the inhabitants of this place, seeing as her powers did not function properly against water. That princess of Tides didn't real water, just some kind of gross pink slime, and Icy always used solid ice.

"Yes, and if you're not careful, you might get to go for a obligatory swim." Baltor did nothing to vanquish these fears as the four picked up their pace towards their destination.

000

_FLASH!_

_BOOM!_

_CRASH!_

"Huh?" Serena and Reiko both looked up, startled by the sudden racket that seemed to be going on outside. Running over to the window they could see the famous magic-snatching wizard hovering in the air and causing havoc with a witch on either side of him.

"Not again!" Serena gave a very loud groan and slumped forward.

"You know who they are?" Reiko looked at her, her cyan eyes wide.

"Ugh, you could say that, but I wish I didn't!" Serena was talking in that griping tone that she took when being forced to do something she didn't want to do. "Everywhere I go, they're always one step behind! It's like they're stalking me!" She turned to her blue haired friend with a heavy expression. "And now they're trying to destroy your beautiful home! Well not on my watch!" With that she grabbed her brooch containing the silver crystal and marched out into the corridor with a determined expression.

"Wait Serena!" She turned around to see Reiko hurrying up to her with great difficulty due to the regal dress she was wearing. She pulled out blue henshin stick with a symbol that resembled a seashell.

"I'm going with you, these are my people." Reiko smiled.

Serena nodded. "Alright, let's do this."

Amidst all the chaos no one had noticed Darcy sneak silently into the palace.

"Let's see, the library, the library," She muttered to herself, floating past the various doors. "That's gotta be where the magic is! Huh?"

The sound of voices had distracted her and she hid behind a pillar just in time to see Queen Reiko stride out into the corridor with Serena.

"_That girl, I've seen her somewhere before…"_She squinted her shadowed eyes at the blonde with the most unusual hairstyle. Then realization dawned on her. _"She was hanging out with the winx that day we raided the museum! But what's she doing here without them?"_ The dark witch decided to keep quiet and continued to observe them.

"You ready your majesty?" Serena asked, holding her brooch aloft.

"As always your highness." The queen nodded.

"MERMAID CRYSTAL POWER!"

"MOON ETERNAL POWER!"

"_What?"_ Darcy's golden eyes widened as she watched the schoolgirl transform into the familiar sailor suited warrior she and her sisters knew and hated. "_She's Sailor Moon? Well,"_ An evil smile formed on her face. _"This is going to be interesting!"_

"Ok, let's go!" The Senshi raced outside to face their opponents.

"Halt, scum of the universe!"

Baltor, Icy and Stormy turned around to see the two Sailor Scouts.

"Hello there I am Sailor Mermaid, but sometimes go by the nickname Aluminum Siren, and I am the guardian of this Planet." Sailor Mermaid gave a polite bow.

"Why are you being nice to them?" Sailor Moon stared at her.

"It is the right etiquette to introduce oneself, no matter who they are!" Mermaid remarked.

"But they're trying to kill us!" Moon sweatdropped. Serenity, it was such a strain for her to be the sensible one.

"That's the Queen of this place? What a ditz!" Icy remarked rudely.

"Thank you! You are too kind!" Mermaid bowed; somehow she had interpreted it as a compliment. Moon facepalmed again, before staring up at their attackers.

"Hey you, evil dude! Leave this planet alone and go back to where you came from! Or I'll have to deal with you on behalf of the moon!" She shouted.

Baltor was eyeing her up in a way that would creep out slenderman. "So, I'm face to face with the almighty Sailor Moon, finally a decent challenge!"

"_Crap"_ Moon thought as she saw him produce a large fireball in the palm of one hand.

"Sailor Moon, why don't you lead him away from here? I can handle his accomplices!" Mermaid suggested. "And if they do prove rather strong I can always call for back up!"

"Ok." Moon nodded, she knew they did not have much of a choice and she had to act fast. "You want this? You'll have to come and get it!" She yelled over her shoulder before flying as far away as she could go. Finding an isolated hill above the sea level she chose to land, waiting in anticipation for her opponents next move.

Sure enough the loud whoosh in the air alerted her to his arrival as he planted his feet firmly on the ground, a few feet in front of her.

"Hello Sailor Moon, it's so nice meeting you in person." He drawled smoothly. "My name is Baltor and I believe you have something I've been searching for a long time."

"_Does he mean the crystal?"_ Sailor Moon inwardly panicked. Faragonda did not know about it, but she had still warned her that she would be in danger no matter what, due to her bloodline. _"On second thoughts it's probably best if I don't find out what he wants! I'll have to throw him off somehow!"_

"Huh? Well I'm sorry Valtor but I'm afraid this hairdo is one of a kind!" She laughed foolishly, twirling one of her long pigtails through her gloved fingers.

The wizard bristled slightly. "It's Baltor. And no, I am not after that ridiculous hairstyle. I want the most powerful object in existence," His eyes flashed. "Your Silver Imperium Crystal."

"_Damn!"_ The Senshi cursed inwardly. _"Now I gotta fight this guy and I have no idea of what he's got up his sleeve! His energy seems to be rocketing through the sky!"_ It was true, thanks to her new energy-sensing abilities she could practically see the inky black aura radiating off of him.

"_Oh come on, I've faced the Negaverse, the Dark Moon, chaos itself, he can't be as tough as all that!"_ Inner Sailor Moon scoffed. She narrowed her eyes and gave Baltor a cold hard stare.

"What exactly do you want with my crystal?"

At this he gave that kind of infuriating smirk that showed that he knew something that she didn't.

"I just want what belonged to me a long time ago. To take my place as the greatest wizard of all time. And I'm here to obtain the power I need and warn you to stay out of my way." He replied calmly.

Sailor Moon stared in disbelief at the nerve of this guy. "The only good thing about you is that you're being awfully up front about this…"

Baltor shook his head, flipping a strand of strawberry blonde hair over his shoulder. "I already wasted my intelligent expressions on that orange haired heiress of planet Sparx."

However Sailor Moon wasn't done. "…But that's still tough shit because you're not getting your sweaty paws on my crystal! So I say, if you want your face intact you're gonna have to beat it, _Valtor_!"

Her words had an instant effect. "Then I'm afraid you give me no choice but to fight you! And my name is not Valtor!" He exclaimed angrily.

Aaaagh! She had to jump into the air to dodge the dark blast of magic he had just thrown at her. It hit the ground instead, leaving behind a deep crater.

"Sheesh Vulpix, what the hell is wrong with you?" She exclaimed.

"For the last time It's Baltor!"

Sailor Moon cocked her head to one side with round innocent eyes. "Buizel?"

"Baltor!"

"Buneary?"

"Baltor!"

"Voldemort?"

"Valto- I mean Baltor!"

"Beelzebub?"

"Baltor!"

…

"Bulbasaur?"

"ALRIGHT THAT'S IT!" At once a torrent of fireballs were launched in her direction.

"Aaagh!" Moon couldn't help but start to panic, as all she could do was dodge them.

"_I'll never be able to attack at this rate!"_ She thought desperately, hovering higher into the air as one flame attempted to singe her shoes. "Wait a sec…" A small glance over her shoulder told her all she needed to retaliate. _"What am I talking about? I'm surrounded by water! Serena you genius!" _She mentally cheered. Outwards she turned to her fiery foe.

"Hey Bellossom! When will you get that you being stronger than me aint never gonna happen?" She hollered down to the island.

"Arghhh!" The dark wizard growled, showing his sharp canines. "I will defeat you Sailor Moon, I will crush you and take your power, make no mistake about it!"

"Oh really?" Sailor Moon cocked a brow before diving head first into the water surrounding the area.

"What? Where did she go?!" Baltor looked around at the vast ocean, not daring to venture further for fear of extinguishing his fire.

"What the-" His eyes widened as he looked up to see a humongous tidal wave curling towards him. Atop the water Sailor Moon was surfing on a silver board made out of pure energy.

"In the name of the Moon, it's time to **wave** bye-bye!" She announced.

At this the huge wave swirled around him, then fired him off into the distance like a huge wet slingshot.

"Wow, that was some bad trash talk even for me! But you know, there's something incredibly satisfying about kicking an egotistical, vampire-wannabe, kleptomaniac's butt!" Sailor Moon said to herself with a grin. "I'd better get back to see how Sailor Mermaid's doing!" She flew off in the direction of which she came.

000

"Breaking news! Just in we have received report that yet another planet is under attack from Baltor!" The Magix news reporter announced urgently from the large TV.

"Quick! Turn it up!" Bloom urged Tecna, who immediately complied.

"We now go live to our correspondent Oli weatherwings who just happened to be in Mermaid at the time for full coverage! Oli?"

"It's raining upwards!" The sparkly journalist shouted, gesturing to the mass of tidal waves causing chaos behind him. If you looked close enough you would be able to see a tiny figure in the distance controlling them to swipe two blobs of red and blue floating in the air.

"Mermaid?" Layla sat up with a start. "But that's impossible! It disappeared from Magix radar long ago! What would Baltor want there?"

"You know that place?" Stella asked, taking a break from craning her neck at the TV. "I can't get a good look at the décor, what with the huge flooding and all but do you know what the colour scheme is?"

"It's distantly related to my realm. It's said that the first mermaids came from there." The dark skinned girl explained.

"Maybe Baltor wants more minions!" Musa suggested.

"Well whatever he wants we can't just sit here, we've got to go and stop him!" Bloom hurriedly rose to her feet, as if she was ready to transform.

"But how?" Flora stopped her by placing a hand on her shoulder. "We don't know where it is, let alone how to get there!"

"Problemo solved Flora! I've got it covered!" Stella slipped her famous Solarian ring off her finger, ready to turn it into the teleporting staff.

"Wait- what's this?" The surprised tone of the presenter made them turn back to the TV. "Oh- this just in, we have reports that the Magix council is unable to get involved with the matter due to a treaty that Mermaid is a part of. The other realms in this treaty have already intervened."

Just as soon as she finished speaking, the camera recording the live feed started shaking as three women in unique Sailor fukus could be seen stepping onto the balcony where Oli and the crew were located. The tallest of the trio, a dark skinned woman with long chestnut hair and dark beady eyes rudely shoved him out of view of the lens.

"Go home to where you came from and get that camera out of my face!" She snarled, snatching the piece of tech and throwing it on the ground, making the footage vanish in a blur of pixels. But not before the figure of a girl in Sailor dress and white mask hovered into view.

000

When Serena got back she was astonished to see three new arrivals fighting alongside Sailor Mermaid.

"When did you get here?" She exclaimed in happy surprise.

"Siren's place was in trouble, and you know she can't hold her own for long!" Sailor Coronis replied. "But first we had to get rid of the spectators, can't have anyone leaking a less than perfect image, right boys?" She winked at the terrified camera crew, who hastily scuttled away.

"I sent my troops into the palace, in case any spies decided to infiltrate. Mousey's busy isolating the area so no one gets hurt. " A second Sailor Scout ran up to join them, the golden bells in her hair, tiara jingling as she moved as well as the one pinned to the red ribbon on her chest. Her golden cat eyes widened at the sight of Sailor Moon.

"Well well well! You're looking good Miss Moon!" She grinned, showing her fang-like canines. "I hope you've been keeping my subjects in check!"

"Same to you, Nyanko!" Moon returned the greeting. "And yes, same as always, Luna and Artemis send their regards!"

"Hmm, I'm not so sure about that." Sailor Mau looked downcast for a second. She wasn't sure if the pair would ever truly forgive her for fighting against them in the Sailor Wars, even if she was royalty from their home planet. Oh well, at least she still had her Starseed, her henshin, and had even made friends, now she could only look forward.

000

Meanwhile Sailor Mermaid was being helped by a third Sailor Scout, who's white hairstyle vaguely resembled Sailor Moon's except where the Moon Senshi had odangoes, she had a pair of round mouse ears. She was also rather short in stature, only about the height of a twelve year old, making her look younger than she really was.

"CHU GALACTIC CRUNCH!" She called out shrilly, sending a pair of golden energy beams at Stormy. The witch had to stop firing lightning bolts to rapidly swoop out of the way, however they missed her only by a few hairs, she could even see a strand of maroon curls sliced of the side of her head and waft away in front of her.

"Argh! You ruined my hair you little pipsqueak!" She snarled at the top of her lungs.

"Great shot Nezu chan!" Mermaid congratulated, momentarily breaking her hold on the water. Icy used this moment of distraction to create an ice platform for her to stand on.

"Thanks!" Sailor Chu beamed. "But I really hope they give up soon! I don't want to miss Total Drama All Stars!"

Mermaid shook her head with a laugh. She knew all about her friend's interest in idols and celebrity gossip and her latest favorite reality show was no exception. "Why don't you record it? You could call your maid to do so for you!"

"I already have," The short Senshi sighed, her white tail curling around her shoulder. "but it's so much better seeing it live, you know, then when everyone gives out spoilers on the internet you know what they're talking about! And there was such a huge cliffhanger last time!"

"I too did wonder what happened to Mike's split personalities." Mermaid nodded in agreement. "But now that the love triangle with Duncan, Gwen and Courtney seems to be over, maybe there will be a new love triangle between Zoey, Mike and Dark Mike?"

"I doubt it." Chu pondered. "I wonder if Izzy will make another cameo like she did last season? I kind of miss her, it was always funny how she beat up the Chef!"

"Do you know who I miss, Lindsay!" Mermaid said animatedly. "It is a pity she left on the first round, I felt we had so much in common!"

While the two Senshi were discussing the addictive reality show they didn't see Icy and Stormy sneaking up on them, ready to pounce.

"ICE STORM ATTACK!"

The strong blast sent them both hurling backwards and smacking into the wall behind them. Chu let out a deep groan before falling onto her front but Mermaid made no noise as she made sure to fall on her side, assuming a more ladylike position on the ground. The two witches leant over them with satisfied sneers.

"So do we make them spill?" Stormy asked her sister, itching to get back at shorty for smiting her.

"At the moment we can't." Icy told her. "But I do know someone who can!" She closed her shadowed eyes, making her thoughts as clear as possible so her telepathic target would be able to pick up on them.

"_Darcy get your ass outside here! We need you to pick some brains!"_ She thought sharply.

"_Icy?"_ She heard the surprised voice of the dark witch and relaxed slightly. So she had heard, good.

"_Why do you need me? We've all got different jobs to do, remember?"_

"_You should have carried yours out by now!"_ Icy shouted inwardly, gritting her teeth. Was it any wonder Baltor saw her as weak when she was surrounded by slackers?

"_Easier said than done."_ Darcy grumbled. _"The Queen called for backup and I can't get past these cat guards. They've surrounded all the areas that have the spells!"_

"_Well there's no time for that right now, you just might be able to redeem yourself if you get out here and make her talk!"_

"…_Fine. I'll be there in a sec."_

As soon as the conversation finished, the witch of darkness materialized next the her sisters in a flash of dark purple. "Okay, lay it on me." She sighed.

"You have to revive these two and hypnotise them into revealing the secrets about their transformation." Icy pointed at the pair of unconscious Sailor Scouts. "And also find out what they know about Sailor Moon!" She turned her back to them, her cape swishing out behind her.

"Wait, where are you going?" Stormy asked indignantly.

"I'm gonna find this Sailor girl and her friends myself!"

000

"Hey!"

The harsh shout made them look up to a very mad Icy, who was glowering down at the group from her position in mid-air.

"I hate to bust up this little reunion but DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M OUT OF THE WAY?" She was practically livid.

Mau turned to Coronis, as if she had not seen or heard the angry witch. "I knew we shouldn't have left Mousey to deal with them!" She exclaimed, as if she had protested against the motion earlier.

"Not much we can do about that now," The taller woman sighed in frustration. "I'll just have to pick up the slack! You two can go find the others, wherever they are," She ordered Moon and Mau. "I don't need any intereference! Clear?"

"Crystal!" The pair quickly said in unison.

While Coronis flexed the black feathery wings on her back ready for action, they decided to run off in direction where they had last seen their friends.

000

"Dammit! Just how much brain damage did you inflict on them?!" Darcy looked up from trying to read Chu and Mermaid's minds to glare at Stormy, who was idly hovering on an air-ball behind her.

"Don't look at me! Just look what the mouse girl did to my hair!" Stormy snapped, gesturing to her now uneven frizz.

"Well thanks to your…"

"-It was Icy's idea!"

"Yours and Icys little stunt, I can't seem to find anything except some crappy cliffhanger to a stupid reality show! Of course it really doesn't help that I have the worst headache right now!"

"Well you're just not trying hard enough!"

"Huh?" The irritated masculine voice made both witches whirl around to see Baltor walking up to them irritably, his clothes were absolutely drenched and remnants of water were still dripping off the ends of his hair.

"What happened to you?" Stormy asked. In any other circumstances she would have laughed but even she knew not to provoke him at this point.

Baltor refused to answer and instead bent down to look at the oblivious Senshi. "Hmm, it's a start I guess." He commented. "But you still need to get them to reveal their secrets!"

"Not on my watch!"

"Argh!" They all growled at the sight of the familiar masked Sailor Scout, accompagnied by what could pass for her dark twin, what with the black pointy cat ears and long black plaits.

"You again!" Moon exclaimed. "Can't you take a hint!"

"Yeah!" Mau nodded furiously. "No one gets to beat up mousey and fishy except me!"

They stood in battle stances, ready to attack. Baltor and Stormy did the same, both visibly unhappy to see them. However Darcy merely stood on the sidelines with a thoughtful expression. Should she reveal her information now? Or should she keep it to herself and maintain an advantage her sisters did not have?

Unbeknownst to her this inner conflict did not go unnoticed by Moon. "Why is she staring like that?" She thought uncomfortably. "It's like she knows something I don't! But why is her energy so mixed? I feel a deep darkness but it seems to be sealed away! Not very well though…"

Her train of thought was cut off by a bolt of lightning sent in the direction of her face, courtesy of Stormy. It appeared the witch had grown restless and was fed up of waiting. Fortunately The Sailor Scout managed to conjure up a shield just in time, protecting herself, Mau, Mermaid and Chu. Mau took this opportunity to try and rouse her allies, who were starting to stir.

"You can't keep that shield up forever Sailor Moon!" Baltor taunted from the other side, starting to create a fireball.

"GET BACK HERE!"

They were all suddenly distracted by the sight of a terrified Icy zooming across the sky, being pursued by an enraged Sailor Coronis, the latter was wielding a sturdy black whip. Somehow Mermaid and Chu were quickly awakened by the mad glint in her obsadian eyes when she slowly swiveled around in the direction of their opponents.

"OH NO, YOU ARE NOT GETTING AWAY WITH THIS!" She sent out her whip that swiftly bound Baltor and the two witches tightly and hauled them up to her level with a flick of her wrist.

"What the-" Moon was lost for words.

"Never," Mermaid began,

Coronis now had all four of her opponents tied up in a massive black web, that was no longer attached to her main whip. She rubbed her hands together with a sadistic lipglossed smile.

Chu interrupted. "Piss off,"

"CORONIS GALACTIC TORNADO!"

"Sailor Coronis." They finished in unison as she released a huge explosion that fired the four out into the stratosphere.

"Damn!" Mau was grinning from ear to ear and put on a pair of chanel sunglasses. "They just got CROWNED!"

000

An extreme benefit of having superpowers was that it made it a hell of a lot easier to clean up a mess. After Sailor Moon and other three Sailor Scouts had pitched in to vanquish any debris and restore any buildings that were hit in the battle, the area was soon back to its usual immaculate appearance and looked as though no chaos had ever been caused there.

"Thank you for your help girls!" Reiko said gratefully, once they had all de-transformed and were in the main foyer of her palace.

"Don't mention it Siren." Akane waved it off. Even though she had a tough exterior she really was firm friends with the woman who was her polar opposite in every way.

"So did Siren tell you about the Sailor origins?" Nezu enquired to Serena, who had to look down to answer her.

"Yes she did, it was amazing!" The blonde replied.

"You know, we get that you have your main Sailor team and all, but if you ever need us for anything," Suzu Nyanko started to say but Serena cut her off.

"Of course! Besides, I can't thank you enough for trying to help me now! You know what, I kinda feel better about going to this fairy school now! I have a chance to show everyone just how strong I am!" She pumped a fist.

"Yeah! That's our all-powerful Senshi! Show em who's boss!"Akane cheered.

Serena happened to glance at her communicator/teleport/watch, and nearly jumped out of her skin.

"OMS! Is that really the time? Oh no I'm late!" She started to panic.

"You should get going then," Suzu advised. "But you've got a teleport, right?"

"What? Oh! Right! Silly me!" Serena started hurriedly punching in coordinates. "Well, see you around girls! Until next time!"

"Goodbye!" They waved as she disappeared in a flash of white light.

000

"Ah, room sweet room!" Serena sighed with tired relief as she neared her place of refuge at Alfea. "I wonder if I can catch some Zs, that was some battl-AGH!"

She fell to the floor with a thump and turned to scowl at the familiar feline she had just tripped over.

"Luna? Would it killed you to have waited in my room a few minutes longer? I was on my way you know!"

"Serena this probably isn't the best time to show yourself at the moment." Luna informed her urgently. "We should probably hang out in another part of the building for a while, half an hour should do the trick, they'll have probably given up by then…"

Serena, having got up from the ground stared at her in confusion. "What fresh hell are you talking about Luna?"

"I'm saying you really don't want to go in there at the moment, those girls…"

"Are you kidding? I've just had to fight off that crazed loon everyone seems to be afraid of around here and I've got back later than I expected, I need my rest thank you very much!" The blonde said over her shoulder, turning the handle and swinging open the door…

… to immediately reveal the Winx, all present and correct, sitting on some of the sofas in the room, as if they had been waiting for her.

"Oh," Her voice seemed to have disappeared in her throat somewhere as she wondered what they could possibly want with her.

"Told you so." Luna sweatdropped next to her. Sometimes Serena really did bring it on herself.

**And so concludes this chapter! Yay! :D Sorry it took a little longer than expected. **

**But anywayI worked really hard on it so I hope you enjoyed it **

**As to these sailor scout cameos, I'd been thinking on doing a oneshot called "a senshi's forgiveness" which explains my head canon about what happens to these 4 after the series ends, but to be honest it's not one of my priorities. However if you want me to do it, just let me know and I'd be happy to. **


	13. yet another an

Hello there, followers of this story.

First off, I've been a bit busy these past few months so I'm sorry I haven't updated as much as I'd have liked.

However I've been working on the next 2 chapters together so then I'd have 14 chapters, but I'm done with the next chapter, which is being uploaded right now! It'll take a bit longer before the one after is done but I really wanted to share the next one right away I didn't want to leave it hanging at 13 chapters so I've posted this note. 

To those of you following when the moon freezes over I do want to get back to it as I really want to finish it, I'm so happy you enjoy my stories so far and I hope you enjoy my upcoming chapters!

Strawberry Moon 007


	14. Let's chat Senshi style!

"Where have you been?" Bloom challenged. Serena raised her eyebrows.

"What are you, my mom? Didn't you get my message? I said I'd gone out to visit someone!"

"Well where exactly did you go?" Stella had her hands on her hips.

"Uh, no offence but why should that be any of your business?" Serena narrowed her eyes. "Last time I checked this place was a free dimension!"

"The point is that it's too dangerous for you to go out on your own!" Bloom cut in. "Ms Faragonda told us that Baltor might come after your power and it's our mission to protect you!"

"Uh…" Serena racked her brains for a good comeback. Why oh why did the anecdote of epic pwnage have to remain a secret? "…I don't know how to tell you this, but I'm a big girl now, and I can take care of myself! Besides, I got all the bodyguard I need…right here!" She grabbed Luna and held her up in front of her. The cat gave a small yowl in slight incredulity.

"Erm unless that cat is secretly a fairy in disguise I doubt she'll be much help in battle." Tecna remarked, raising an eyebrow.

"Ooh!" Serena kept her lips tightly sealed. Yet another of her secrets had been unwittingly stepped on. Luna put on her most wide-eyed innocent look.

"We're just trying to help Serena! I hope you can understand that," Flora moved over to the girl anxiously. Catching her eye Serena sighed, even if the others weren't exactly respecting her privacy she couldn't stay mad at the nature fairy, whom she sensed had a genuine kindness to her, not unlike her own.

"I know Flora, but seriously this is starting to turn into one of those horror stories where the person isn't allowed to go outside and is trapped by the others!" It was true, Serena hated situations where someone was never allowed freedom by their peers so that they could be cruelly used for the schemes of others, and she had even met people whom it had happened to.

"We didn't say you couldn't go out, you just can't go out on your own!" Musa said, as if this was not such a bad thing. "But you can always hang with us!"

"Hmm, ok." Serena rested her cheek on top of Luna's head with an unhappy sigh as she held the cat in her arms. "I'm going to the bathroom, if you'll allow it."

With that she silently walked past the group of girls, who all looked in her direction as she did so.

"Well I think she took that ok!" Stella turned back to the others happily.

"What do you mean?" Bloom exclaimed. "Baltor nearly destroys another realm today and she runs off by herself? We should have found out where she was going! It's like she's not taking this seriously!"

"I'm sure she'll come round eventually!" Tecna patted her shoulder. "After all she's not used to Magix yet, and we can teach her how to defend herself!"

"That's a great idea!" Layla brightened. "I wonder if she knows any water magic?"

"Hey, why don't we have a slumber party tomorrow?" Musa suggested. "It'd be great for our first night of guardian duty!"

"Now that's more like it!" Stella cheered. "Plus I could show her a few more hairstyles! The meatball hair's…different and everything but the novelty might wear off soon!"

000

Surprisingly the following school day seemed to pass by rather slowly and uneventfully, at least for Serena. She did get to sit with Mirta again during history of magic, who introduced her to a few of her friends after the class, including Priscilla, Francis and Alice. Other than that it was mostly spent trailing after the Winx as they nattered about their boyfriends. Apparently prior to Serena's arrival a princess the Lunarian could only describe as goldilocks had tried to steal Sky from Bloom. Oh she had a name, but it sounded kinda weird, Jasper? Jaspro? It didn't matter; Sky had seen the error of his mind controlled ways and was now back with Bloom. Personally Serena believed that her own prince was more handsome than theirs but that was just her opinion. Although she was happy to discover that Musa's relationship with Riven was improving, thanks to her advice; it was always a great feeling to help people.

When the evening finally came, the Moon Princess wearily trudged into the dormitory with the rest of the winx. She looked slightly disheveled from the last period, which had involved having to wrestle with a man-eating flytrap. At least Flora had been her lab partner for that or she was sure she would have come out of that class with more than just grass stains on her front.

"What a day!" She sighed. She was just about to collapse on the carpet when a sudden realization renewed her with fresh energy.

"That's right! The live chat's tonight!" She remembered happily, before turning to the six fairies in the room.

"Hey guys? I'm afraid you're gonna have to excuse me as I promised my friends I'd talk to them tonight!" She explained, sporting a cheesy grin.

The girls all exchanged looks. "Er, well we were going to have a slumber party here! Would you like to come later when you're done?" Bloom said eventually.

"Oh…ok. Well I'm kinda gonna be a while but if there's any pizza left over you can leave it out for me, 'kay?" The blonde replied. A slumber party did sound like fun, but she was worried that if she spent too much time with these girls she was bound to let something slip about her secret identity, which was a definite no-no. Besides, she would always choose her best friends in the cosmos over anybody!

"Hmph! Alright but starting tomorrow you have to tell us exactly where and when you're going every part of the day!" Stella said, crossing her arms indignantly. "And you also have to include every article of clothing you wear, when you walk around Alfea you represent us and I won't have anyone making my style look bad!"

Serena rolled her eyes in irritation. "Jeez, don't ask for much do you? What is this, the Spanish inquisition?"

Suddenly jarring chords sounded at a deafening volume as three men in flowing red robes burst in the doorway.

"NO ONE EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISTION!" The leader shouted with a heavy dramatic flair.

"Huh?" The six fairies held the same look of extremely bewildered confusion. Serena took this opportunity to make a divebomb for her bedroom and flew inside in one liquid motion, slamming the door behind her.

000

Having hauled her laptop into the spacious bathroom (She wasn't forgetting her bedroom also belonged to Stella and its privacy could be thrown out the window at any time) Serena turned on her skype. She beamed at the sight of four familiar faces each in a corner of the screen.

"Girls!" She exclaimed happily. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you!"

"It looks like someone's been busy!" Lita had noticed the stains on Serena's shirt.

"Ugh, tell me about it! But how's it been going? I'm dying to know!"

Raye raised an eyebrow. "How about you go first? You've been hinting like mad that you've been up to some crazy trouble!"

"We'll get to that when we get to that," Serena hushed, waving her hands. "Trust me, but can't you guys go first?"

"Oh, ok, my course is going really well!" Ami decided to start. "I've met some really nice people and I'm almost always top of the class!"

"Wait, what do you mean almost always?" Lita's eyes narrowed, something wasn't right about that sentence.

"Wait a sec, is that a blush?" Mina had noticed the slight shade of pink Ami had turned.

"Ooh, did you meet someone special?" Serena joined in on the action.

"Well…" Ami began. "You remember Greg?"

"Yeah!" Serena, Raye and Lita nodded in unison. "No," Mina began but then stopped to think. "Oh, yeah! The psychic boy! I always thought you made a cute couple!"

Choosing to ignore that last remark Ami decided to continue. "Would you believe he's doing the same course? He told me that he had a vision I'd be attending as well!" 

"So he can still see the future?" Serena asked.

"Not so much as before, but sometimes he gets a small inkling of minor incidents. But we've explored the city a few times with some of our new friends; the city looks really striking when lit up at night! But enough about me, how have you girls been?"

"Well I'm doing pretty good too!" Lita grinned.

"You're on that cooking course, right?" Raye said knowingly. "I hope you've been saving some snacks for us!" Serena cut in.

"Sorry Serena, we always end up eating what we make for lunch!" The brunette sweatdropped apologetically. "But I promise you, when everyone's done with their courses I'll make us all a big picnic so you can all find out how delicious it tastes!"

"Mmm now I'm hungry…" Serena and Mina murmured in unison.

"Eugh, they even drool at the same time!" Raye facepalmed at the sight of the two blondes salivating.

"Do you do anything else besides cook?" Ami wanted to know.

"Hmm, there was this guy who came in to talk to us about wine tasting…" Lita recollected.

"WINE?" Mina shrieked loudly. "Why didn't you tell me about this course? I didn't know there was wine partying involved!"

"Would you rather take getting drunk over having some screentime in a movie?" Raye's snide remark hastily shut her up.

"I'm actually missing some first aid lecture so I can be here right now." The princess of Jupiter continued. "But I've learnt plenty about that in my time so I don't think I'm missing anything!"

_Elsewhere in a large kitchen-like studio a group of students were seated at a long table, grimacing at the grotesque images in the first aid booklets that had just been handed out. A woman with no eyebrows and wild orange hair that seemed to be moulded into a shape stood at the head of the table. _

"_Alright, let's start." She said briskly. "Don't lie back on the sofa after drinking too much; you will die. Don't drive a motorcycle; you will die. If your friend falls off a motorcycle and his back looks funny don't leave him to call for help; he will die and you will live with the knowledge that you have killed your friend. If you choke on a bit of toast you will die. If you give someone the Heimlich maneuver you will break his or her ribs. Any questions?"_

_The students stared at her with wide eyes, clearly too traumatized to speak. _

"_Good. Now let me show you a video of a guy who was dead for four minutes before some lifeguards gave him CPR."_

"If anyone needs that kind of course it's Serena!" Raye smirked.

"Hey! I take offence to that!" Serena stuck out her tongue.

"Still not got over your fear of onions then?" The onyx haired shrine maiden shot back.

"It was an allergy!" Serena shot her a withering look. "Soo, the last time we spoke you told me your Grandpa was running martial arts classes again!" She quickly changed the subject.

After Raye's temple stories, including sealing a dangerous monster into a trading card with the help of some old friends visiting the area it finally came to Serena's turn.

"Wait wait wait," The Moon princess held up her hands to confirm what she had just heard. "You had to do WHAT to the Dark Magician?!" She covered her mouth, as she felt a bit queasy. "Damn that must've been painful!"

"It wasn't Yugi's dark magician! It was the creepy janitor's dark magician!" Raye sighed. "Were you even listening?"

"It's amazing, the different kinds of people that game attracts!" Lita remarked, looking up at the ceiling.

"Ooh tell me about it!" Mina cut in. "You still haven't heard about what happened with…"

"Guys! What about Serena's news?" Ami cleared her throat.

"Oops! Sorry! Hehehe…I'm listening!" Mina shook her head hurriedly. "C'mon already!"

"Uh, ok here goes," Serena gulped, sucking in a huge breath. She then embarked on recollecting everything that had happened since she had left Japan, including meeting the 6 famous fairies, receiving the Lunar book from the Queen of Solaria, visiting the other Sailor Scouts and fighting off Baltor. She also told them about her quest for the Enchantix because apparently it would help her become Queen and create Crystal Tokyo, she still wasn't exactly sure herself for some parts. She did flush with pride at Mina's awed expression as she described in detail how she had pwned this supposedly dangerous dark wizard.

"…And now the winx are trying to stalk me cuz they think I'm a wuss who can't fight, I don't know, but then they were distracted by the Spanish inquisition and I escaped and am now here talking to you." She finished.

Everyone blinked at her in stunned silence for a good few moments.

"It's like trouble always comes looking for you, huh." Was all Mina could say.

"You really weren't kidding?" Lita shook her head.

"Yup!" Serena nodded.

"Ok ok, let's deal with this one at a time," Mina waved her hands in a business-like manner before looking back at Serena. "You saw Reiko and the others? Has Nezu finished with the magazines I leant her? She's had them for a month and I kinda need them back." 

"MINA!" The other three Sailor Scouts gaped at her. "That's more important than the new enemy?" Raye demanded.

"Uh, yeah! From what I've heard Serena you took care of it pretty well and besides, compared to all we've faced in the past, he should be easy prey!" The blonde turned to Serena. "Although if he does show up again, send me pictures! You know I'm always looking for new additions to my big bad fail files!"

Serena rolled her eyes. They all knew about the meticulously filed records Mina kept of their biggest victories in battle. Although they all admitted it was fun to look at how badly they'd managed to beat up a youma as it was perfect for boosting morale. There had even been a youma Mina had defeated as Sailor V who was already half dead from a kick before being finished off.

"Hmm," Raye looked troubled. "But seriously, how strong is this guy? Should we pack and go over there?"

"I wouldn't worry about it girls," Serena reassured them. "I've already faced him once and compared to all the other big bads we've faced it was a walk in the park! Certainly nothing worth putting your dreams and goals on hold for!"

"Well if Serena can handle it without help, that must be really saying something!" Lita shrugged.

"Wait a minute," Ami interjected. "You mentioned Reiko telling you about something called the Sailor Alliance. For some reason that sounds familiar…" She broke off as if trying to recollect memories from a previous life.

"Oh that story is wonderful! You have just got to hear it!" Serena gushed happily. She launched into great detail about the inspiring story of the first Queen of the millennia who created the Silver crystal in the universe's first real battle between dark and light. All four of them stared enthralled from their respective screens as she described the beautiful illustrations and the documents she had been shown on the most powerful henshin a Senshi could obtain.

"I guess when we all inherit our kingdoms we'll be reinstated into the alliance." She finished, feeling slightly emotional.

"Wow," Mina gasped. During the whole story she had not once interjected with an inappropriate inside joke. Instead she had taken it in with the rest of them. "That was so beautiful!"

"And the intergalactic Sailor Scouts all have these documents in their palaces?" Ami asked. "I must pay Reiko a visit sometime!"

"So Crystal Tokyo will happen when you two are crowned King and Queen?" Raye repeated to get the facts straight.

"So it would seem, according the laws of time and space. But I still don't know when that's gonna happen." Serena said.

"Well I guess we'll just have to face it when it comes!" Lita spoke. "As a team!"

"And as the deputy leader of this team, I second that!" Mina cheered loudly. "Yeah, nothing can stop the almighty Sailor Scouts and their leader Sailor Moo-"

"Serena?"

"_HAAA?"_ Serena froze as she looked over her shoulder to see Stella in the doorway.

"KNOCK ON MY DOOR! KNOCK NEXT TIME!" She jumped to her feet with a wild shriek, making the Solarian swiftly scamper away. Once she was gone, Serena slammed the door shut and turned back to the screen with a sigh.

"That was way too close!" She glowered at Mina before looking at the others. "Do you think she heard us?"

"I'm not sure, Mina was being pretty loud there!" Raye grimaced.

"Ugh, that's just great, I'm not supposed to let these girls know who I really am!" Serena explained. "That's why it's such a pain having to hang out with them all the time! Not to mention they seem to have deemed me not worthy of the power I need to rule!"

"Hang in there Serena, I know you can do it!" Lita looked sympathetic.

"Yeah! If you can kick some evil wizard butt there's nothing you can't accomplish!" Mina pumped a fist. "And if any of these girls give you trouble just say the word and your top Scouts will sort them out for ya!"

"I do hope it won't come to anything like that!" Ami sweatdropped quietly.

"Don't worry girls, like you said, I can handle it!" Serena smiled, before turning to a certain corner of her screen. The blonde girl in said corner looked taken aback at the four looking expectantly in her direction.

"W-what are you all looking at me for?" Mina spluttered.

"C'mon Aino," Serena smirked knowingly. "Time to fess up those crazy shenanigans you were mentioning earlier!"


	15. There's always a light in the dark

"Sooo, why are we going to the Headmistress's office again?" Serena asked as she and her fairy acquaintances made their way up a small staircase the next morning.

"She said she had important news," Bloom replied. "Maybe the specialists finally found Baltor's hideout!"

"They'd better have." Serena's eyes narrowed. She was starting to get pretty sick of this wretched Baltor. At least if they caught him then everyone would shut up about how evil he was. Seriously, every time someone mentioned his name she was starting to feel the desire to strangle herself with her own pigtails.

"That's the spirit!" Musa cheered, misinterpreting her tone.

However when they arrived they found the whole senior class gathered around the Headmistress's desk. Faragonda herself looked at them with a grim expression.

"Come in girls," She ushered. "Late last night Baltor attacked Light Rock Fortress. I'm sorry to report that after a fierce battle, he took all of their magic spells!

"Light Rock has one of the most powerful spell collections in all the realms!" Flora said worriedly.

"And they have one of the most powerful defence systems as well!" Tecna added.

Serena kept quiet, she knew Baltor was just assaulting these places in a poor attempt to reassert his manliness after getting his ass kicked by one of her Sailor teams.

"Both of those facts are true. Baltor is amassing more and more power."

"Wait a second, what about the attack on Mermaid?" Layla remembered. "Didn't he manage to take any power from there?"

Faragonda shook her head. "Fortunately Mermaid was well protected by the planets Chu, Coronis and Mau, due to an old agreement they share. Nonetheless, Baltor is powerful even without Mermaid's magic, and we have to stop him before he gets hold of all our magic spells and becomes invinicible!"

"But how?" Bloom asked. "We can't even find him!"

"We'll start with the last place he attacked, Light Rock. There must be some magical traces that he left behind that will give us a clue."

"Alright! When do we get started?" Serena cheered enthusiastically. She'd always loved field trips, as they were an excuse to get away from studying. However as she looked around at everyone her demeanor couldn't help but droop at their sympathetic expressions, as if she was missing something.

"Serena I think it is best if you were to stay here at Alfea while we search Light Rock." Faragonda said gently.

"Huh? Why?"

"I'm afraid it will be too dangerous for you, the traces of Baltor's magic could also alert him to your presence."

"_AGAIN?"_ Serena mentally facepalmed in frustration. It was bad enough hearing this lecture from people her own age let alone a teacher. "But everyone else is going!" She exclaimed, gesturing to the large crowd of fairies being informed of the expedition.

"Don't worry, the pixies are staying here too!" Layla remembered. Brightening, Flora turned to the Moon princess. "They'll be able to keep you company!"

"Joybunnies." Serena muttered grumpily.

000

Later Faragonda had assembled the class of Seniors outside the gates of Alfea with Griselda. The pixies had come to see them off and, after much deliberating on whether they deserved it or not, so had Serena and Luna.

"Ok Pixies, listen carefully," The headmistress instructed them. "Baltor might take advantage of our absence and sneak into Alfea. So, be on the lookout!"

"Don't worry Ms Faragonda! You're talking to the pixie of passages!" Lockette proclaimed, brandishing her hairclip key. "I'll go and put a spell on all the entrances and exits in and out of the school!"

"Thanks anyway but we already have a powerful spell protecting the school!" At this Faragonda activated the force field barrier with a flash of green magic. "Although I would be grateful if you and the other pixies would look after Serena while we are away!"

"Hmmph!" Serena turned away so the others couldn't see her scowl. Luna rested her head on her shoulder sympathetically.

Meanwhile Bloom was saying her own goodbyes. "I'm sorry Kiko but you can't come! You're too tiny!" She placed her hands on the barrier.

"What is going on today? You'd think we shrunk the way everyone keeps calling us tiny!" Digit was getting more and more put out.

"Tell me about it, I'm normal size and I still get left out!" Serena said indignantly, causing Ms Faragonda to look in her direction.

"Serena, I hope you understand. This is for your own good! Imagine what would happen if Baltor were to get his hands on you!" She said with concern.

"Hmm." Serena kept quiet, thinking about what had already gone down when she met the dark wizard.

She turned to all of the pixies. "For now I'm counting on you to keep an eye on her until we get back."

"Don't worry, I think we should be able to handle that!" Digit remarked, crossing her tiny arms.

000

The one good thing about being left behind was that now Serena was free to talk to Luna and practice her energy sensing without having to hide her secrets from anyone.

Well she had thought that at first, but with the pixies following her it had become impossible to find a moment alone.

"Look I know you're doing your job but I didn't think Ms F meant for you to be this thorough!" She told them as she opened the door to the ladies bathroom. "Take a little break, no one will know!"

"But Ms Faragonda told us to look after you!" Chatta proclaimed. "We can't let her down!"

At that moment Tune flittered over. "Chatta, a lady needs her privacy!" She scolded, before smiling at Serena.

"We will be in the courtyard if you require any assistance!" She told her sweetly before departing, firmly steering Chatta in the same direction.

Once safely inside a cubicle Serena crouched down on the closed toilet seat with a sigh of relief.

"Is the coast clear?" Luna squeezed herself into the already small space from under the green door.

"Yeah," The girl relaxed her posture slightly against the wall. "I thought they'd never leave! Seriously if I'd known there was gonna be this much sneaking around and keeping power secrets I would have joined the Rare Hunters!"

The feline rolled her eyes. "Wait a minute, where's the Luna book? I thought the whole purpose of finding an empty space was so you could practice strengthening your magic!"

"Way ahead of you there!" Serena winked as she pulled out a tiny white square from her pocket. Luna gasped as the girl made it levitate into the air and revert to its original size with a snap of her fingers. Slowly the book floated back into her hands.

"See Luna?" Serena grinned. "Sometimes I do pay attention in class!"

000

Following a few hours of trying to practice strengthening her aura in a cramped cubicle, Serena decided that she deserved a break. After all, Luna had to admit she had made some progress with energy sensing, and even she was impressed at how much the aura meditation had worked in such a small space. All she needed now was some company to see if it worked.

Sure enough, on strolling out into the sunshine, she could feel waves of disgruntled disappointment emanating off a few of the pixies that were gathered on a nearby bench.

"Rough day huh?" She sighed, sitting herself down.

"They're treating us like we're some kind of little dolls who don't know how to behave on the battle field!" Tune remarked, delicately dusting the space next to her.

"I don't know about you guys but I for one am offended!" Digit exclaimed.

"Just because we're small doesn't mean we're not tough!" Chatta added crossly.

"You know, I don't think it's just about being small," Serena looked up at the blue summer sky.

"So how come you're stuck here like us?" Digit asked, flying up to the girl's face.

"Some crap about Venusaur wanting my powers, last time I checked he wanted Bloom too and no one's stopping her going anywhere!"

"Huh? A Venusaur? My data banks say that such a creature only exists in Earth video games!" Digit was confused.

"Oh, you know," Serena snapped her fingers. "Evil guy, goes round stealing magic, maroon coat, I could never remember his name!"

"Oh you mean Baltor!" The pixie sniggered. "Good one!"

"Whoa." Suddenly Serena sensed a strange feeling of foreboding washing over her. She bent forward as she placed a hand on her forehead.

"Serena? Are you ok?" Amore flew over worriedly.

"Whoa, headrush," Serena was still spaced out. "I can't help but feel something bad is going down and someone's in danger.

Just then they heard a bang on the barrier and they looked up to see Livy floating by the gate. Digit flittered over to her.

"Hey Livy! Are you here to deliver a message to us by any chance?" Digit spread her tiny arms, eager for any news.

After a few moments of mixing up the word order, the small messenger perked up at realizing the original message. "Oh yes that's right! Now I remember! You're supposed to come quickly because the witches are getting ready to attack the village and the pixie spell treasure is there. All the pixies are at the harvest ceremony and the village is empty, we need your help right away!"

"We've got ourselves a mission!" Digit exclaimed happily at the other pixies.

"Come on little creatures of the forest! We've got to defend our village!"

"Yeah, sure, you guys go, I'll be there in a sec," Serena waved them off with one hand, the other covering her forehead. She squeezed her eyes shut in concentration, trying to find the source of the distress magic.

"Serena? What's wrong?" Tune flew over to her. "You can tell us!"

Suddenly Serena looked up at Livy. "You were there in the forest with some others, right? Who else was with you?" 

"Hmm, let's see now, Zing was there, she told me to get help because the witches had captured Glim!"

"Huh?" Serena gasped. _"So that's where the energy is coming from!_" She thought. _"Because she's my bonded pixie we must have some kind of connection!"_

"She's my bonded pixie!" She exclaimed aloud. "I've got to find her!"

With that she raced into the forest.

000

Glim looked up at her captors in terror as they towered over her. If she hadn't been caught in Stormy's twister she would still be safe in the trees. Not to mention Darcy had carved a creepy image of Baltor's face onto a nearby rock. She wished Serena or the Winx were here to make fun of it and therefore make it less scary.

"Hey aren't you one of those mini-fairies that hang out with those Alfea losers?" Stormy was saying, unconsciously tightening her hold on the pixie.

Glim continued to struggle. "What did she say?" Stormy was confused. "Did you understand that?"

"No she's talking baby talk." Icy shook her head in disdain, her long ponytail waving side to side behind her.

"Hold up I just had a major brainstorm. Don't these pixies have a bunch of ancient spells and charms and whatnot?

"Yeah just the same as all other magical beings, so what?" Icy made it clear she didn't know nor care about where her younger sister was going with this.

"So I propose that the one who gets their spell treasure first also gets Baltor and all of his power! What do you think? Is that a perfect solution or what?"

"Wait a second!"

"Huh?" Icy and Stormy both looked up at Darcy, who was looking at the pixie in Stormy's hand with a thoughtful expression.

"I have a better idea. If its in distress, that will alert its bonded fairy!" She told them, pointing at the pixie. "If I could intervene, I could find out who it is, and maybe get them to find Pixie village for us!"

Icy raised an eyebrow. "So what? You're just gonna swipe the advantage and take Baltor all for yourself?"

"It's better than trying to decipher baby talk." Darcy pointed out, gesturing to the pixie in Stormy's hand. Scowling slightly the youngest witch handed Glim over to her older sister.

Darcy focused her power. She tried to hone in on the connection between the pixie.

Suddenly an image of Serena flashed before her eyes. _"Oh this is too perfect!"_ She inwardly lit up at the opportunity. _"If I take on this Sailor Moon and get the crystal I'll get over this slump for sure!"_

"Well?"

The enquiry made her eyes snap open to see Icy and Stormy staring at her expectantly.

"Did you find them?" Stormy pressed.

"I… you see…INSTANT DARKNESS!" Darcy quickly threw a spell at them, encasing them in a black mist in their imaginations and knocking them off their feet. When the fog had cleared she was gone.

"…That wiatch!" Stormy exploded.

000

"Glim? Gliiim! Where are you?" Serena called desperately, holding up a low hanging branch of a tree to make her way deeper into the forest.

"Well, well, you showed up after all!" The smooth feminine voice remarked from behind her.

"Huh?" She whirled around to see Darcy standing in the clearing, grinning evilly as she held up the squirming pixie in her gloved hand.

"Hey! Let her go!" The blonde pointed at Glim angrily.

"I'll make you a deal, I'll release the pixie if you hand over your crystal, Sailor Moon." The witch replied.

"_What?"_ Serena froze as a panic shot through her like an electric bullet. Glim's huge amber orbs widened as she looked up at her captor, still struggling to get out of the tight gloved grip.

"Sailor Moon," Darcy repeated with a nasty grin. "I know your little secret."

Serena stood, frozen to the spot as her brain whirred into overdrive, desperately trying to think of a solution.

"Bu-but that's impossible!" She gasped. "How-"

"Your little transformation on Mermaid." Darcy said smoothly. "You're lucky I haven't told Baltor…yet!"

"_How did she find out?"_ Serena was asking herself. _"I can't let that loser wizard find out who I really am! But if I don't do something then Glim will get hurt!"_

"Let her go!" She ordered the dark witch. "This is between you and me, she has no part in this!"

"Then seal the deal sailor." Darcy ordered. "Transform and fight if you're brave enough!"

Serena produced her brooch with a hard glare, flashing the reflected light on the golden surface in Darcy's direction. The witch nodded and uncurled her fingers, releasing Glim. The pixie instantly fluttered over to Serena's side with an anxious expression.

"Stay back Glim!" Serena turned to the pixie. "This could get dangerous!"

Glim looked a little put out but obligingly flew over to a hole in a nearby tree where she could still keep an eye on her fairy, as the blonde assumed her beloved battle stance.

"MOON ETERNAL POWER!"

Darcy had to keel backwards to shield herself from the bright flash of positive energy that surrounded her opponent for a brief few seconds before it dissolved, leaving the famed intergalactic Senshi herself. Curiously this time she was not wearing a mask, without it, her face was still the same as Serena's except for the golden Crescent Moon engraved on her forehead.

"Ok ok," The brunette signaled a time out with her purple covered hands. "How did I not get that sooner?"

Sailor Moon shrugged. " There's a special shield magic that comes with the transformation, prevents anyone finding out my secret id. I never had to wear a mask back home! Of course it helps that no one in this dimension has never heard of me before," She added as an afterthought.

Darcy fired a dark energy blast but Sailor Moon skipped neatly out of the way. This battle continued for a while, with the witch desperately trying to hit her target and the Sailor Scout dodging or deflecting the dark magic.

"You know," Moon eventually leant against a tree to catch her breath. "I never did get your name!"

"It's Darcy." The young witch was equally exhausted, if not more so than the Sailor Scout, and also irritated at her inexplicable inability to catch this wretched warrior. "And since I've given you something personal now you pay me back! Now give me the silver crystal!"

"Yikes!" Moon jumped back yet again to stop her precious item from being swiped. _"What's with her energy?"_ She wondered, feeling the restricted yet conflicted emotions swirling around the dark witch. _"Maybe I can use that, and then no one gets hurt!"_

"Why?" She asked aloud.

Darcy sighed. "Look, I've got a job to do, if I get that crystal, Baltor will get his power and rule the universe!"

"And then what's gonna happen to you?"

The one fear that had been plaguing Darcy's mind since Baltor had been released, the source of all her doubts, that she had refused to confront for so long, was voiced outright by this Alfea trainee.

"I…uh… My sisters and I will rule the universe of course! And Baltor will make me his main witch!"

Serena looked at her sadly. "Is that really what you want?"

"…What?!" Darcy stopped in her tracks. Did she really just hear that question? That brutally honest question she'd been desperately trying to ignore?

"I said is that what you want?" Sailor Moon repeated calmly.

"Uh- of course it's what I want!" Darcy was quick to retaliate; a little too quick to sound believable.

Serena focused her energy hard, and sure enough began to feel the soft white aura surrounding her. "Do you still want it so badly?" She asked sadly. "All those years of failing, worth it for just one moment?

Darcy stood there, frozen the spot where she stood. No matter how hard she tried to deny it, she was trapped. Her silence spoke volumes.

"You know you don't have to do this," Serena told her. Darcy desperately tried to avoid eye contact but the calm even stare of her company was too much. "You still have your life, you can live it however you want."

"What are you talking about?! I have no choice in this!" The dark witch spluttered.

Serena remained undeterred. "Why? Your life shouldn't be someone's plaything, it belongs to you, and only you can decide how to spend it!"

"But if I don't do it then…"

"Here." The soft soothing aura of Sailor Moon spread out around her as she extended a white-gloved hand. Darcy automatically winced away from it for a second but then stared at it in a mixture of tentative fear and hope. She began to raise her own hand in awkward twitchy movements, as if she wanted to take it.

_FOOLISH GIRL!_

"Aaagh!" Suddenly her body convulsed violently as a dark spirit emerged. Looking closely it resembled a haggard old woman, straggly strands of unkempt hair falling over her yellow eyes. Darcy fell to the ground, gasping.

"Who are you?" Sailor Moon demanded,

"_I am Lysslis, one of the great ancestral witches!" _The spirit shrieked. _"And I have been forced out of my dormant state thanks to you! Not to worry, my vessel was weak from the start, now I can see you would make a much better choice! Keeper of the Silver Crystal!" _

"Vessel?!" Moon looked at Lysslis in disgust. "You were gonna possess her?! That's sick!"

"_Once the time was right."_ Was all the abomination gave for a reply before raising her ghostly arms.

"_PREPARE TO BE PLUNGED INTO INSTANT OBSCURITY!"_

All around her the sky became pitch black like a starless night, the trees became knarled and foreboding like the area was surrounded in a giant shadow.

Sailor Moon stared at her surroundings with great apprehension. "Huh." Was all she could say.

"THAT'S IT?" Lysslis screeched. _"YOU HAVE BEEN EXPOSED TO POWERS BEYOND YOUR WORST NIGHTMARES AND THAT'S ALL YOU CAN SAY?"_

"Meh, Negaverse, Negamoon, shadow realm, same difference." Sailor Moon shrugged. "But back to business, MOON SCEPTRE ELMINATION!"

With that she launched a series of crescent energy blades at the being, slicing it at the sides.

"AAAARRRRRRAHAHAHA!" Sailor Moon's eyes widened as the spirit's howl of pain turned into insane laughter.

"I warned you not to test me!" It taunted. "Now you will feel the full extent of my wrath! TOTAL DARKNESS!"

"Aaaah!" Moon couldn't help crying out as she was hit by the shadow-like energy, sending her skidding a few feet back, right behind Darcy. Thinking quickly she summoned a small white force field, separating herself and Darcy from the whirlpool of dark magic around them.

"Shit, I knew I shouldn't have tried one of my easier attacks first!" Sailor Moon complained, channeling all her strength into keeping the force field strong.

"What's the point?" Darcy to keep herself heard above the howling wind. "The ancestresses are too powerful! And if you keep that up soon you'll lose all your energy!"

"I have to try!" Moon grit her teeth and looked determinedly ahead. All she could see was the tornado of twisted shadows trying to wrap around the force field and seal it into the centre.

"_Serena!"_

"Huh?" Moon suddenly heard a small voice. Although it was soft and sweet it also sounded very young like a child, and no one she could recognize at that moment.

"What?" She looked down at her chest in alarm to see that her gold brooch was glowing! Looking up again she suddenly caught sight of a tiny ball of light trying to make its way towards her. As it succeeded in coming closer the Senshi could just make out the outline of a familiar being…

"Glim!" She gasped, watching the pixie finally enter the force field and stop right in front of her. "H-how did you get past all that?" She gestured to the forces being thrown at her with a shake of her head.

Glim held out her tiny arms with a smile. _"My powers are of the light. Please allow me to help you win this battle!"_

As soon as she gave a small nod Moon felt the symbol engraved her forehead glow pure gold as she felt the connection between them. For a fleeting moment she thought she saw a girl about her age in the pixies place in a flowing orange dress but in the blink of an eye it was gone.

Instantly she felt a rush of power surge through her fingertips and up her scepter.

"Right," She turned to grin at Glim, who had flown to her shoulder. "Thanks for the boost!"

"SILVER MOON CRYSTAL POWER!" Sailor Moon shouted, raising her scepter high and releasing the bright lights of energy.

"_Noooo!"_ The entity shrieked as its corporeal body weakened by the light, burst out into a vapor, making Darcy fall to the floor. Immediately the forest returned to it's normal thriving exterior. _"You haven't seen the last of me, I will return!"_ It promised threateningly as the dust slunk away into the shadows. Moon stood staring at the direction in which it had gone for a moment, shivering at the breezy silence.

"It'll be back." She said quietly to herself. "But I'll have to be ready!"

She turned to look at Darcy, who was still lying, shaking on the ground. The witch barely managed to bring herself to her knees to face her.

"It won't attack you again." Serena told her.

Darcy looked up at her. In those few moments Serena could not only see the pain and depression in her golden eyes but also a tentative hope, a hope that all of that suffering was finally over. Then they were filled with water as she broke down. Serena silently moved in and put her arms around her.

"I don't want this anymore!" Darcy sobbed. "I-I don't want to do this anymore!"

"You don't have to." Serena whispered soothingly.

"But I'll lose everything! My sisters will still go ahead with the plan, and Baltor has them under his control, I feel so weak by myself!" Darcy looked at the ground in shame, not noticing how much her purple eye makeup had smudged, making her look like a wreck.

"But you're not alone. You have me now. And I promise I will help you through things, one step at a time!"

"But why? Why are you helping me? I've done so many bad things!"

Serena moved back slightly to look at her. "Even though I am a Senshi, I believe that violence and hurting people is never the answer. And I've met criminals way worse than you! Some are actually pretty funny stories if you ever get a spare moment!"

"I'd like that." Darcy gave a small nod before suddenly losing her energy and lolling forward.

"Oh my head," She groaned. "Ancestress- must've drained my powers- I don't feel so-"

She lay on her side, desperately trying to keep consciousness.

"Darcy?" Serena asked in alarm, moving forward to check for a pulse.

"This is not good!" Her eyes widened at the witch's fever. She was no doctor but she knew she had to act fast if Darcy was going to survive. She touched her brooch containing the crystal and focused on channeling all of her energy. With that she placed her hands on both sides of Darcy's head and focused on draining all of the negative energy the spirit had left behind. She was lucky she had practiced controlling her energy before, but she still needed work before completely mastering it, nevertheless she tried her best. When she was done the witch groggily opened her eyes with a groan.

"I've managed to heal the fatal parts, but there's not a lot I can do." Moon told her. "I have to get you to a safe place, now. D'you think you can hang on for a little bit?"

"I- I think so," Darcy gave a small nod. "Th-thank you for saving me, Sailor Moon."

Sailor Moon merely smile before looking up at the sky with a grim expression. She knew that she was more than strapped for options, as the whole of Magix knew Darcy as a hardened criminal.

Suddenly she smiled to herself as she got a brainwave. "Glim," She turned to her bonded pixie. "Think you can cover for me? I'll try not to be long."

The little pixie nodded determinedly.

"Good." Without a second thought the Senshi fired up her teleport. She knew exactly where to go.

Just a dimension away in Tokyo outside Hikawa temple Raye was quietly sweeping up some stray leaves when a large flash of light appeared in the foyer to reveal her leader and best friend, still in her Sailor fuku, supporting a sickly looking girl in a strange purple suit. Instantly she met the eyes of Serena.

"Raye I need your help."


	16. different sides to the story

_Baltor scowled. Ever since Darcy had run off, deserting her sisters in the quest to find some fairy, for some reason he had been unable to track her. Therefore he'd had to settle on observing Icy and Stormy's efforts to get him more power. They really were pathetic, he decided. But still, they would have their uses in due time…_

_Suddenly the whole area seemed to shake as he had felt the magic trail of a familiar dark source._

"_An ancestress awakened?" He had wondered. "So soon?" He knew of their plan, it didn't mean he had to like it, but with all his preparations underway he would be ready when the time was right. _

_Quick as a flash he had turned back to the crystal ball he had stolen from Cloud Tower and willed it to show him what had caused this disturbance. His pale eyes widened slightly as he saw the clearing be enveloped in a barrier of dark magic, but not before he had caught sight of the tiny figures of the missing witch and the keeper of the magic he so desperately desired. _

000

"Serena? What in the world?" Raye quickly made her way over to her best friend.

"We need to get her inside, I'll explain there." Serena said seriously.

The look Raye gave her was one that had a million questions, however the shrine maiden could see that the goth girl needed urgent medical care.

"… Ok but just who is she?" She took Darcy's right arm, lifting some of the weight off Serena.

"Remember that lame wad wizard I told you about? Well she was working for him until about a few minutes ago," Serena explained.

"Wait, so this Baltor guy did this to her?" Raye asked as she helped support Darcy over to the porch. She knew that the unconscious girl was way too beat up to be an undercover spy for the other side, even Serena would have been able to see through that kind of façade.

Serena rolled her eyes. "Ugh no but with everyone's mad obsession over the bad things he's done, he may as well have! It's like he's the new dinkleberg!"

"Man these guys are lucky they never met queen Beryl!" Raye remarked at this as they finally made it into the main building.

In a matter of minutes the pair had managed to assemble a futon in one of the spare rooms of which to place their patient. As they sat beside the girl's sleeping form Raye turned to Serena with an expression that meant business.

"So now are you gonna tell me exactly what's going on?"

"Of course!" Serena wasted no time in telling Raye everything that had happened in the forest from the confrontation to the crux of the battle with the unknown evil entity.

"Whoa whoa whoa you actually took on what could be a chaos incarnate all by yourself?" The raven-haired girl stared at her in disbelief.

"What else could I do?" The blonde protested shrilly. "Besides I don't think it was that strong to call it that…"

"If you can beat it without help, obviously not." Raye remarked. "But I wonder if it's connected to this Baltor in some way, I mean if she was working for him, maybe that's why he hired her!"

Serena tilted her head to one side as she looked at Darcy. "In case my energy first aid didn't work, d'you think you could exorcise her? You know so that evil definitely can't come back?"

"I don't think that's necessary," Raye clasped her hands together like she often did while meditating. "I can't sense anything evil lurking in her soul, but it seems her powers came from a source similar to the one that attacked her! It'll be a while before she fully recharges! And as impossible as it sounds, you seem to have done a pretty good job of it already!"

"Hey, give me a little credit at least!" Serena couldn't help but scowl. "It's hard enough trying to learn more about my moon power when I have to keep it a secret when I'm over there! You should have been at the headmistress's office this morning, you know that thing where grown-ups don't want you to feel bad about something but end up talking down to you? You know I don't handle stuff like that well!"

"At least it went better than your last careers interview!" Raye retorted.

**flashback**

_Serena is sitting in the office while a careers person talks to her. She can't help staring at the large bowl of sweets located on the desk. _

_Career man: So Serena you're failing everything except home economics and art. I'm afraid this means that if you don't make an effort with your grades you'll end up doing something menial at a… (His phone rings) excuse me, may I?_

_Serena nods mutely. He turns his back to her and takes the call. Eventually he turns back._

_Career man: Now where were w-_

_Serena has consumed all the sweets in the bowl and her mouth is now coated with sticky chocolate. _

_Serena (looks spaced out): You took too looong! Now yo caaandy's gooone! Tha's wha happened! Bugow!_

_She drops the sweets wrappers on the floor and exits the room._

**End flashback**

"Ughh…" Both girls were snapped out of their musings as Darcy's eyelids slowly fluttered open.

"Wh-where am I?" She groaned, trying to move her head. The image of two girls bending over her with concerned expressions swam into focus.

"Aah!" She sat upright with a start, her golden eyes wide with fear.

"Ssh." She was somehow instantly calmed by Serena's soft hand on her arm. Raye looked at her approvingly.

"You can channel energy like that already? Nice!"

"It's alright Darcy, you're safe here." Serena soothed. "Do you remember who I am?"

"Yes, you're Sailor Moon." Darcy was quick to answer, to prove she hadn't lost her memory.

Even though she had already heard that part of the story Raye couldn't help shooting a snide look at her blonde friend for revealing her secret identity so easily. The girl in question chose to pay no attention to this and gave a friendly smile.

"Sure, that's my name as a Sailor Scout! But when I'm like this you can just call me Serena! And this is my friend Raye!" She gestured to the Martian princess who gave a small bow in greeting.

"I'm Darcy." The witch told her. "You're friends with Sa-Serena?"

"Well it depends on how you define it…" Raye pretended to ponder as Serena stuck her tongue out childishly. "But seriously," She hastily continued at the look on Darcy's face. "She is a true friend!"

"Aww thanks Raye chan!" Serena put her arms around her.

Ignoring the affectionate action Raye turned to Darcy with a serious expression.

"Serena told me all about you, and that you have powers, but they come from dark magic, right?"

"Yeah," To be honest Darcy still felt out of it, as if she didn't have the energy to do anything.

"I'm afraid whatever possessed you drained a lot of your power, so they'll probably be very weak right now."

Darcy looked at her hands emotionlessly. "So I've lost my powers?"

"Not quite. You still have them, they just … need to be awakened again!" Serena said reassuringly.

"That's one way to put it." Raye raised an eyebrow at the turn of phrase. "But if you get lots of rest and rid yourself of all the negative vibes you'll get your full strength back in no time!"

"But wait, my power comes from darkness!" Darcy was confused. "I need negative energy for my magic to work! Positive energy doesn't mix well with me!"

"There is a difference." Raye told her. "There is such thing as people with dark magic who are not evil and put it to good use. We even know people like that. Think of it as fighting fire with fire!"

"Fire," Darcy groaned lying back on her pillow. "After all that wretched fairy Bloom put me through I never want to see another one of those again!"

At this Serena and Raye exchanged devilish grins. "Oh just wait 'til you see what a REAL mistress of fire can do!" Serena remarked knowingly.

000

During the showdown of darkness, Icy and Stormy had run into trouble with the other pixies in the rest of the forest. Icy had tried freezing half the wooded area but those little pests were just too quick for her. Stormy had tried capturing them in a twister but it turned out their tiny wings were sturdier than they looked. What was more, the little insects actually had some serious magic in them! And so here they were after a surprisingly long time, and they had not made any progress on finding the pixie village. They had come across the vast black field of energy before coming across the pixies, but found that they had been unable to get in and it seemed that anything inside would be unable to get out.

Their first assumption had been that Darcy had summoned it to catch the fairy she'd been looking for. Then Icy had pointed out that there was no way in hell that Darcy knew stuff that advanced. Then they had thought Baltor was conducting tests on some new tricks he had learned. When they had reached the area there was no trace of their sister or the Sailor Scout, they couldn't even sense a magic trail. However they had neither the time or the strength to dwell on such matters as

"Give it up witches!" Digit taunted. "It's time you showed some respect for little creatures like us!"

"Ugh you wish tiny tot!" Icy reached out to swipe her but the pixie of nanotechnology was too quick and the whitenette ended up falling flat on her front in the mud.

"Smooth move!" Stormy snapped sarcastically while the pixies and pixie pets burst out laughing at her sister's plight. _"That'd be a great image for Baltor to see!"_ She snorted vindictively in her mind. _"Plus now Darcy's done a runner he'll know she's unreliable! I'd have to be his main witch then!"_

"Grrr Stormy if you get off your ass and smite these sugar puffs, I may or may not reconsider my plan of taking you out too!" Icy said in a dangerously low voice trying to keep her tone even but failing miserably.

"What is your crystal ball telling you about the witches Amore?" Tune whispered to the pixie of love, who was staring into her bright blue ball.

"Both have a strange energy around them!" Amore explained softly.

"Is it a love energy?"

The pink pixie frowned. "It's hard to tell! But maybe we can still use it against them!" She turned to the two Trix. "I see a powerful man in your lives witches!"

"Oh really? REALLY? We're doing this now?!" Icy was getting more and more agitated. "Just who gives you the right to go there? Who the fuck said that you could have any knowledge of my innermost thoughts and feelings?!" She drew herself up to her full height, a glint of insanity appearing in her sky blue eyes. "But guess what? You're wrong! I don't know anything about what you just pulled out of your ass and I sure as hell don't feel anything for…"

"Stop right now!"

The command made them swiftly turn around to see Baltor standing there with the Agador box under one arm.

"This witch-on-witch contest is over, I need you for other battles! Battles more important than this!" He stressed.

As he approached the two young witches they hung their heads in exhausted humiliation. While there were a few protests from Digit, the pixies and the animals took this opportunity to sneak away through the foliage.

"You two were defeated by pixies!" Baltor addressed them with disgust. "Not only is it pathetic, but it's also embarrassing to me!" He turned his head to look around at the leafy area surrounding them. "Now where is Darcy?"

"She… ran off." Icy replied slowly, as if she didn't want to admit it. "But we'll find her!" She was quick to add.

"I don't think that'll be necessary." Baltor waved her off dismissively. "From what it seems, Darcy won't be coming back."

"Huh?" Both witches were taken aback.

"Surely you must have felt this part of the forest enclosed in dark magic earlier?" The wizard enquired.

"_That dark barrier,"_ Icy and Stormy realized with a jolt. For the first time in ages they felt a sense of fear blow through them like a cold chill.

"Just before it was put up, I was able to glimpse two people inside, Darcy and that irritating vigilante Sailor Moon!"

"HER again?!" Icy exclaimed angrily. "Grr!" Electricity sparked through Stormy's hair and tightly clenched fists.

"So it would seem. But when it disappeared there was no trace of either of them." Baltor declared. "Oh well, one opponent down!" He shrugged.

"WHAT?!" Stormy shrieked and even Icy looked shocked.

"I'd had enough of that troublesome Sailor Moon, although I'd have enjoyed taking her down myself, if she and Darcy killed each other it means one less obstacle to my plans!"

"What about Darcy?!" Stormy demanded.

Baltor gave a small indifferent sigh. "I'll admit, her magic was useful for a few missions but my spell library should provide me with the mind control powers I need. Now let's go home, we've got a lot to do!"

Clapping his hands in a business like manner he strode ahead, intending for them to follow him. Icy did so almost right away, treading a little more heavily on the ground than she usually did, leaving frosty footprints in her wake. Stormy hung back a little before turning around and blasting a nearby tree, reducing it to a pile of ash, before she joined them.

000

"So where are we exactly?" Darcy looked around the unfamiliar room.

"This is Hikawa shrine, located in Tokyo Japan, my home town!" Serena announced proudly from the corner of the room as she assembled a few possessions she had left at the shrine, and which Raye had not so politely requested she take back with her.

"That's got to be good, no one knows my reputation on Earth," Darcy looked at the sheets in front of her with a dejected sigh. This didn't go unnoticed by the scarlet Sailor Scout, who was still next to her.

"What is it?" Raye asked gently.

"I-I don't know what to do with myself." Darcy tried her best to explain the dull aching sensation that was eating away at her insides. "I just feel so empty inside, like I'm no use to anyone…" A tear trickled down her cheek. "I'm not even sure of what I'm supposed to be anymore."

"You'll stay at the temple with me while you get better." Raye told her firmly. "But it'll be a few days before you can get up, let alone start to regain your powers! So like Serena said we'll just take one step at a time." She turned to Serena, who was loading a bag with some pony plushies. "So you got everything then Serena?"

"I'm good." Serena came back to join them having used a shrinking spell to fit the bag into her pocket.

"Please try not to leave your stuff lying around here in future." Raye sighed.

"Not even if they're presents from me to you?" Serena's eyes began to water.

"Alright fine." The onyx haired girl chose to admit defeat. "But I'd prefer it if they were tasteful, and _didn't_ take up most of the room!" Her mind drifted back to the giant Godzilla statue Mina had bought from a convention.

**Flashback**

_Serena, Ami, Raye and Lita are all staring at the enormous plastic figure of the famous Japanese kaiju. Mina leans against it with a huge grin._

_Lita: That thing's gotta be life size! It's taller than me!_

_Raye (facepalm): I really don't want to ask how you managed to find it!_

_Mina: This con is the best! it has everything! Isn't it gorgeous? _

_The others sweatdrop as she gives it a big hug. _

_Ami: I don't mean to burst your bubble but just how are we going to get it home?_

_Mina: Sailor teleport._

_They end up having to make their circle around it as they teleport home. _

**End flashback**

"Yeah, that con was the best!" Serena grinned happily. "I finally got to meet one of my favorite actresses!"

**Flashback**

_Serena arrives at the autograph signing stands in the huge centre. She walks up excitedly to a beautiful woman with short purple hair and brilliant green eyes. She is wearing an extremely short yellow shirt with matching shorts and has a large red jumper knotted around her torso._

_Serena: Miss Valentine! I'm such a huge fan! Space Cowboys is one of my favorite animes! I cried at your back-story!_

_Faye Valentine (smiles): I know right? Especially episode 18!_

_Serena: Here, I drew this for you…_

_She shyly presents a picture of the character to the actress. _

_Faye Valentine: Thanks kid! It's lovely!_

_Convention staff: Would you like a photo?_

_Serena: Of course! _

_She gives her phone to the organizer and they both smile for the camera._

**End flashback**

"Serena you need to get going if you don't wanna get busted!" Raye said sharply. Someone had to keep that girl on her toes.

"Wait, you're going back to magix?" Darcy asked Serena sadly.

Serena nodded. "Uh huh. But don't worry you're in safe hands here. And besides," She turned to Raye with a wink. "I might pop back for a visit to reinforce my comic supply!"

"You already have more than enough," Raye sweatdropped.

"But in all seriousness I need to get back soon or they'll realize I've been gone and make the security even tighter than it already is." Serena groaned at the prospect before looking at the two girls.

"Until next time!" She smiled cheerfully before activating her teleport. After she had gone Raye turned to Darcy with a smile.

"So, if you're gonna be staying here, you'll have to learn the ways of the temple! I should have some spare robes in the storeroom!"

000

Once Serena had materialized in her dorm room she had just about enough time to jump on the nearest comfy chair and pull out a manga before she heard footsteps outside the entrance.

"Hi we're back!" Tecna put her head round the door.

"Huh? Oh, hi!" Serena raised a hand from behind her comic.

"Hey there Serena! We didn't find Baltor but I can tell you about our adventures if you want!" Musa entered the room with Tecna.

"Sure! I love adventures!" After suppressing a huge yawn Serena got up with a friendly smile. Luna, having caught sight of her Princess, sprinted swiftly into the room.

"Oh hey Luna!" Serena crouched down to pick her up. "I'll fill you in when we're alone." She mouthed when the others greeted their pixies, keeping her face close to the feline's and making sure she didn't make a sound that the fairy of music was bound to pick up on. Luna nodded immediately to confirm she understood.

When they came out into the courtyard they found Bloom searching one of the flowerbeds.

"Have you seen Kiko? It's strange you guys he usually comes running up to welcome me home the second I come back from a mission!" The red haired fairy asked.

"Now why can't you be more like that Luna?" Serena whispered to the cat in her arms. "All I get is 'Serena! You shouldn't be watching TV you should be out hunting the negaverse!"" Luna raised an eyebrow.

"Some mission! We couldn't find any trace of Baltor!" Musa hmmphed.

"_Neither did I! And I'd thought he'd have shown his face when that hag surfaced,"_ Serena wondered quietly out of earshot. _"Not that I'm complaining of course!"_

"Hmm but whatever it was will surely come back!" Luna whispered seriously. "If this darkness is under Baltor's control, the fate of the world depends on you!"

Serena gave a small nod, but they both looked up when they heard the chatter of an excited crowd outside the main campus.

"Three cheers for the pixies! Hip hip hooray!" They came out to see that all the Alfea students were gathered around the courtyard.

"Hey you guys! Guess what, the pixies saw Baltor today!" Stella exclaimed who was standing there with the rest of the winx.

"Huh?" All but Serena gasped in surprise.

"It's true! And little Digit took down two witches!" Amaryl gave a thumbs up.

Craning her neck Serena swelled with pride to see Glim up there with the others.

"Thank you thank you everybody!" Digit was waving to the crowd from her position at the fountain. "But I didn't do it alone, I had the help of the other pixies and Kiko and the pixie pets as well! They all deserve credit too!"

"And so we give a citation of valor to our brave pixies and a special medal for Digit!" Faragonda announced before turning to the blue pixie. "You really came through big for us today!"

Spotting the familiar girl Glim flew over from the podium to Serena.

"But what they really don't know, is that you were especially brave!" Serena whispered to her with a wink. "After all you took on an ancestress! Whatever they are…"

The light pixie giggled as she sat in the palm of Serena's hand.

"Serena where were you when all of this was happening?" Bloom turned around to face her, the other five fairies looking at her with interest.

"What? Oh you know me, I was totally here the whole time! You know, read some manga, practiced magic, watched some My little pony," Serena waved it off with a laugh. "Yup! And if you don't believe me you can ask Glim!" She turned to the pixie in her palm, who nodded fiercely.

"What can I say? Someone had to hold the fort when they were gone!" The Moon princess winked.

"That's good." Bloom smiled in relief. "The protective barrier would have kept you safe if Baltor and the witches had shown up!"

"Yeah well," Serena said mysteriously. "Something tells me they won't be such a big problem than you think!"

000

Deep in the one of the winding tunnels of Baltor's cavern Stormy was angrily blasting huge chunks of rock with lightning.

Eventually when she grew tired she fell to her knees; her long nails digging deep into the dirt. Her frizzy hair falling in front of her, hiding the hot tears streaming down her face. A few splashed onto the soil next to her fingers.

"_Sailor Moon,"_ She bared her teeth as she snarled inwardly. _"If she didn't die before, she'll be wishing she had because when I find her I will make her pay!"_


	17. Golden gifts

"_Hello Princess Serena,"_

_In her dream Serena was the princess she used to be once again and found herself alongside her mother._

"_Queen Serenity!" She was startled. "I'm so happy to see you again!" _

"_Serena you must go to the golden kingdom, there is someone who wishes to speak with you, and help you in your quest." The silver haired Queen told her. _

"_Who must I go and find?" Serena asked._

"_Someone you helped a long time ago with the kindness of your heart. Someone who wishes to repay you for all you have done." Queen Serenity smiled. "After all, you have touched so many hearts with the light of yours, I know you will continue to do so!" _

"Just what did that mean?" Serena thought that morning as she brushed one of her long pigtails. "Surely this Enchantix can't be that strong! I'm starting to think there's more to all this! And just what is this Golden Kingdom anyway? Darien has the Golden Crystal, does that count?"

Emerging from the bathroom she was pleasantly surprised to find that her and Stella's room was empty and that the whole dormitory too was practically isolated except for Layla, who appeared to be in a conversation with a hologram of her mother.

"I don't care about tradition Mom! I'm too young to be thinking about marriage!" She said in frustration. "Much less an arranged marriage!"

"This is not up for debate!" The Queen of Tides chided as a mermaid fixed her hair. "Nabu is a wonderful young man!"

Deciding that conversation was best left uninterrupted the blonde shrunk her lunar book and tucked it into her pocket as she strolled out into the courtyard.

"Try this on for size Bloom! Soundcage!"

"Huh?" She looked in the direction of Musa's voice. Jogging over to get a closer look she could see Bloom Stella and Musa all in their enchantix supposedly battling it out. At present the fire fairy appeared to be trapped in a dark sphere that the Melodian was controlling.

"Is this a mutiny?" Serena wondered aloud. "Somehow I wouldn't be that surprised if it was!"

"AaRGH!" Bloom bust out the cage with ease, creating a wave of fiery energy that swept through the surrounding area.

"Man I channeled all my winx into that attack!" Musa complained, rubbing her head.

"Whoa whoa hold the fire!" Serena decided to intervene. "I thought you guys were friends! Or at least allies in eliminating a common enemy!"

"Don't worry! We're not really fighting!" Stella dusted a bit of dirt off her skirt after de-transforming.

"Since Baltor and I both get our powers from the dragon fire, we figured if we can find a way to defeat my power, we can use it to defeat his! But so far no luck!" Bloom explained.

"Er, I have an idea, why don't you try water?" Serena suggested. "You do know that water douses flames right?"

Just then Tecna came running out to join them, carrying an old and rather heavy-looking book.

"I've got it!" She exclaimed, her turquoise eyes shining. "I know how to beat the dragon fire!"

000

After they had seated themselves on the grass Tecna began telling everyone about a story she had learned, involving objects called water stars, which were supposedly so opposite the dragon fire they couldn't even be in the same universe together. To be honest, Serena had kinda zoned out at this point, surely these things weren't that necessary? Sailor Moon had already proven that Baltor wasn't invincible!

"Where are they now?" Bloom was asking.

"In the golden kingdom." The fairy of technology answered. "The portal to this place lies at the base of the red tower."

"The golden kingdom?" Now they had Serena's attention. "Where is it? I wanna go! What?" She demanded at the looks the winx were exchanging with each other. "Just because I don't have a fairy transformation like yours doesn't mean I don't have any power! Would I be here if I didn't?"

"…She does have a point." Tecna admitted.

"Ok!" Bloom smiled. "After all if she goes with us, what could possibly go wrong?"

000

Somehow Faragonda had surprisingly agreed to Serena's inclusion of the mission. The blonde found it weird how she seemed so lenient to anything Bloom would say, but she chose not to question it.

So later the winx and pixies plus Serena boarded a large Red Fountain ship to go to Veilmist forest.

"Whoa, check out how huge this thing is!" Serena looked around at the infrastructure in wonder as she entered the vehicle. Glim nodded in agreement before zooming off to find her pixie friends.

"Eep!" As the ship took off, it also took her by surprise, making her cling to a pipe in the corner.

"Serena? Are you alright?" She turned around to see Flora standing there with a look of concern.

"…Nope! Just my first time in one of these is all! But I'm sure I'll get used to it!" Serena gave a smile. "I'm still excited though!"

"I'll take you to a seat!" The nature fairy leant an arm, which Serena gladly took as Flora guided her to the central control room.

"Ooh! Is there a recline button?" Serena stretched out comfortably in the swively chair.

"The navimeter's giving me a negative reading!" Timmy was explaining to the group.

"It's probably just broken. There should be a spare one in the supply bay." Sky said, momentarily looking up from his share of the controls. "I'll go get one." Layla got up from her seat and headed towards the designated area.

"And what do we do if it's not broken?" Bloom asked, leaning over to take a look.

"I'm not sure. If it's correct then it would be saying that there's literally nothing in our destination. Where Veilmist forest should be, all it shows is a giant void! We'd literally be flying off the face of the earth!"

"Huh? That doesn't sound good! It's like we'd be sucked into a black hole or something! Serena shuddered. "This is starting to feel like that time I had to take that scary cable car over the river! At least I made some new friends out of that experience!"

**Flashback**

_Serena has boarded a cable car, along with several other people, including an excitable girl with short dark hair, a girl with a spaced out expression and a girl with pigtails who looks about 12 years old._

_Tomo: (seems kinda scared but also excited at the same time if that's possible) It's especially bad when it starts jiggling! And we're only hanging on to one rail! It could go on its side or something! _

_The cable car suddenly stops in mid-air._

_Serena (looking up anxiously with a tiny voice): Is it supposed to stop?_

_Tomo: WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE YEAH!_

_Osaka (looks thoughtful): Don't worry you guys; Chiyo Chan will fly us to safety! _

_She daydreams about riding on the back of a giant Chiyo, who is using her pigtails as flapping wings. _

_Serena: (desperate) Please can we talk about something else?_

_Chiyo: Alright! We must! Erm… what about those stuffed kittens? I bought some for my friend miss Sakaki! She loves cats!_

_Tomo: What if someone took a selfie just as they were about to hit the water right before they died? It'd be like 'ooh selfie! Aaagh!"_

_During the entire ride Chiyo manages to distract Serena by comparing school festivals. Serena is interested in the cat hats the girls had to wear for their class, and Osaka comes out of her daydream to remind them the hats were modeled on the Chiyo-father-cat. To Serena's delight, Tomo mentions that she is a fan of Sailor V, although she makes Serena promise to get her autograph for her. By the time they step out of the cable car they are all good friends and have swapped phone numbers. _

**End flashback**

"It's just a glitch Timmy." Sky was saying.

"I don't know Sky, it might be a better idea for us to land in the Barrian mountains and walk from there just in case," Timmy gave his opinion.

"We have a stowaway!"

Everyone turned around to see Layla in the doorway with a familiar young man.

"You again!" Sky exclaimed.

"You're that dude from the museum!" Serena remembered loudly.

"I can explain." The young wizard said calmly as Layla tossed the spare navimeter at Timmy.

"You'd better." Bloom said warningly.

"And fast!" Musa added.

Serena looked at Ophir thoughtfully as he explained about practicing invisibility spells on the monsters in Veilmist forest. Through his aura she could tell that he wasn't sharing the complete truth, but she did know that he wasn't a bad person, and maybe did want to help them.

"I think we should trust him," She spoke up.

"Huh?" The fairies looked at her in surprise.

"Serena! It's because of him that Baltor got away with the Agador box that day!" Tecna protested.

"I'm gonna have to agree with Tecna on this one, this guy's got spy written all over him!" Layla added.

Serena took a deep breath. "Look guys, my magic gives me the ability to read people's energy, and I can tell he's not lying! If there was something dark about him I'd be the first to know!"

The winx plus Sky and Timmy all looked at each other.

"Well, Ms Faragonda did say that Serena had a special kind of magic…" Bloom said slowly.

"Hmm, ok but I'll have to keep an eye on him!" Layla was still uncomfortable with this.

"Good idea, and put some shackles on him. They'll prevent him from using magic." Sky agreed.

"I hate to interrupt but we're going to be on the other side of the Barrian mountains any minute now so if anyone wants to send any messages back home or anything, now's the time to do it!" Timmy interjected, not looking away from the computer screen.

Flora produced her pink phone with a giggle. "Magic message time!" She held it in front of herself and pressed record. "Hey there Helia, it's me! I just wanted to say hi to you before we got to the other side of the Barrian Mountains! Now say hi everyone!" She moved the device to show her friends.

"Hey there!" Serena momentarily looked up from searching for Darien's speed dial to give a V for Victory sign with a grin.

As Flora finished her message, the Moon princess's phone kicked into life as she finished the dial.

"Hello?"

"Hi Darien!" Serena lit up at the sound of his voice.

"Serena? You usually call in the evening, what's up?" Her boyfriend asked.

"Oh nothing, I'm just flying off the edge of the magic world on a field trip is all," Serena waved it off. "I just really wanted to talk to you! So how's it going?"

"Wait, you're flying off the edge of the world?" Darien tried to believe what he was hearing. "Is that even humanly possible?"

"According to this lot apparently it is," Serena sighed. "Whoa!"

Suddenly she felt a jolt in her stomach as the ship started to crash.

"Serena what's going on?" Darien's tone became more urgent.

"I'll call you back." Serena whispered before promptly hanging up.

"Pull up harder Sky!" Timmy fought to be heard above the air pressure.

"It's no use Timmy!" Sky said hopelessly. "Brace yourselves!" He called to everyone.

"AAAGHH!" Everyone yelled in unison. Serena clung to her seat with her eyes squeezed shut.

"AAIIIEEE!" She squealed. "If I die I'm blaming you! I still never got to hanglide over the West Indiess! Although now I'm not sure if I wanna do that anymore if this is what it's like! AAAHHH!"

Eventuallt the ship hit the ground with a loud thud, pieces of the machinery flying off the sides as it was rammed into the dirt.

"Nice going genius," Serena groaned in a deadpan manner as she shakily got up from her seat, looking slightly green around the pallet. "Penguins can fly better than you lot!"

"What's the damage?" Sky asked Timmy.

"It looks pretty bad, I'll have to stay here and fix the ship!" The bespectacled specialist came over to the exterior engine. "You guys go on ahead!" He told the others.

"I think I'll sit this one out too." Serena still sounded groggy.

"Are you sure?" Bloom looked doubtful. "One of us could always stay here with you if you're not feeling too good!" Sky added.

"Timmy's here," Serena pointed out. "Besides, I'll be fine! I just wanted a change of scene from school!"

"Alright, but don't try to venture too far on your own, just take it easy okay?" Musa advised.

"I will, now you've got to get going, right?" The Moon princess waved them off.

Once they were gone Timmy turned back to Serena.

"I'm going to check the outside infrastructure," He told her. "If you need anything just come and find me round the back!"

"Will do," Serena said to his retreating form. When the room was free she breathed a huge sigh of relief, they had gone the whole journey without finding out that she was harboring a stowaway of her own.

As soon as the coast was clear she knelt down by a metal cubbyhole and opened a latch, with a disgruntled Luna crawling out.

"You weren't kidding about that flight!" The mau moaned, trying to smooth back some of her fur that was standing on end.

"Yeah yeah, but not much I can do about it!" Serena pointed out before looking up at the hangar doorway. "Is it safe?" She called quietly.

Sure enough Glim flew back into the control room and gave a firm nod with her large head. Serena grinned and turned back to Luna. "Right, we got one shot at this, think you can do it?"

"Only if you're sure you know the spell!" Luna was looking concerned.

"Would I be doing it if I wasn't?" Serena rolled her eyes, before shooting a stream of silver magic at the cat with one finger. Instantly Luna morphed into a carbon copy of the spell caster.

"Alright! Looking pretty good I must say!" Serena looked her handiwork up and down approvingly. "Now remember, you have to act exactly like me, and don't do anything I wouldn't!"

"Don't worry, after living with you for so long I think I can manage it!" Luna reassured her. "Now you should get moving before Timmy comes back!"

"Right." Serena pulled out her brooch. "MOON ETERNAL POWER!"

000

Meanwhile the winx, along with Sky and a still handcuffed Ophir were strolling through the yellow oasis under the direction of the pixies.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Stella said, not for the first time.

"Positive! Our magic can sense the way!" Chatta replied.

"It's a good thing you brought us along," Digit decided to add her two cents. "If you hadn't, you'd be a-agghh!"

She was suddenly knocked down by a strange bulbous eyeball on a stick that seemed to come out of nowhere.

"What was that?" Sky barely had time to look around before he too received a blow to the face, sending him sprawling to the ground.

Layla reached out to grab the eyestalk but gasped in surprise as the mists parted to reveal a humongous blobby creature with a mouth that resembled a tunnel and a million more eyes where the first one came from.

Sky seemed to have recovered when no one was looking and cut it to pieces.

"Let's go girls!" Bloom ordered. "ENCHANTIX!"

Once they had all changed into their fairy forms they began blasting the creatures.

_FLASH!_

Suddenly all the creatures were struck down with blasts of white light that hit with deadly accuracy.

"Huh?" Everyone looked up in the direction of which they came only to see the silhouette of the Senshi disappearing into the mists.

"Was that Sailor Moon?" Stella wondered aloud.

"Just who is she?" Bloom added.

"She seems to show up wherever we go!" Musa craned her neck to get a better view.

Up in the sky Sailor Moon was still determinedly heading towards her destination.

"There, I helped them! Are you happy?" She asked Glim, who had persuaded her to give the fairies below a hand in getting past the living slimes. The pixie nodded happily.

Sailor Moon sighed. "Good. They're supposed to be the most powerful girls in school! They should've been able to get past a nature puppetry spell; those things were weaker than the first youma I ever fought! I hope they realize more are gonna spring up from where those came from!"

At this Glim flew down towards solid ground, gesturing for the Sailor Scout to follow. On arriving, Moon landed gracefully on her feet, something she wished her friends, who knew her for her clumsiness, had been around to see.

"I guess you can't go any further than this point," She addressed her pixie, who nodded at the correct guess.

Moon smiled. "Thank you for guiding me here, I should be able to make my own way now."

Glim gave a big wave with her tiny arm and flew off in the direction of which they had come. Sailor Moon looked fondly at her retreating form for a moment before journeying forward to what looked like a large tree with a wooden door in the side.

"Alright! This must be the red tower!" Moon cheered. "Funny, it doesn't look much like a tower, and it's not even red! What a let down!" It was true; it could have easily been mistaken for a nondescript tree.

Grabbing the handle with her gloved hand she opened the door only to find another. She discovered that door opened to reveal one with a strange language inscribed on the front.

"Huh," She squinted at the symbols through her mask. Language classes had not been the most engaging at her new school, she knew a lot of Earth languages thanks to her many friends from around the world, but here she could only make out the odd phrase or so.

"Er, let's see, pure… heart…soul…enter." She managed to decipher. "Well!" She brightened. "I could understand that just fine! Who says you need to be word perfect to understand a language? And I'm a Moon Princess with the Silver Crystal! Surely you can't get purer than that!" For the first time in her life she was grateful for those horrific moments when daimons and lemures tried to make off with her pure heart and beautiful dreams since they proved she did in fact have one. She could now sort of see where Mina was coming from when she tried to bait daimons to prove she had a pure heart.

"Huh?" She was startled by the sudden sound of beating wings. As quick as a flash she turned around to see a winged centaur flying straight at her!

"Haaa?" She could hardly believe what she was seeing before he decided to rudely throw his magical javelin in her direction.

"Oh no you don't!" She reached out and caught it with one hand, just as it was about to hit her. Using her expert scepter-wielding skills she swiftly twirled it around so the forked end was pointing at the offender.

"Didn't your mother tell you it's not nice to throw things at people!" She reprimanded sternly. "Now I have an important mission to fulfill so if you stand in my way again you're Moondust!"

The centaur looked at her with widened eyes before hastily bowing down on his front legs.

"Your Highness!" He exclaimed anxiously. "I did not know it was you, forgive me!"

"…Ookay?" Sailor Moon looked at him oddly. It was true that a girl could get used to royal treatment but this was just plain weird. "Well, anyway I have business in the 'Golden Kingdom' so I gotta get going,"

"Oh right, of course. I will show you the way." He made a sweeping gesture in the direction of the door.

"Thanks. Oh and one more thing?" She turned back to him one more time. 

"Yes your Highness?" The centaur looked up eagerly.

Sailor Moon pointed at the entrance with a scowl. "Just how THE HELL do I get through this tiny door?!"

000

"I know you've already seen it a dozen times," Baltor began. "But you're going to have to watch it again!"

"Rgghh! Not again!" Stormy was almost at her wits end. At that moment she wanted nothing more than to blast his smug face to smithereens. But she knew that he had more power than her so resistance would be futile. "We fucking get it okay?"

"It was a fluke! An off day!" Icy added, momentarily looking up from trying to ignore the feelings of nausea swirling around her head.

"Oh I don't think you do," Baltor said smoothly. With a wave of his hands the sickening image was replayed in the crystal ball.

"Those are pixies that defeated you! Tiny little pixies! How do you think it will make me look if word spread that you were defeated by pixies?"

The wave of positive energy momentarily made him loose his guard. "What's that, huh?" He asked a little too quickly. "Did you feel that?"

"I felt something warm and gross like how a sunset feels!" Icy shuddered. She was already feeling pretty gross; she didn't need infuriating fairy vibes to make it worse!

"It was a wave of positive energy and there's only one place it could have come from, the Golden Kingdom!" He swiftly turned to the crystal ball. "Show me the Red tower!"

Instantly the image of the Winx and specialists swam into view.

"So they have gone to the Golden kingdom, to the Red tower for water stars!" For a split second he looked almost downcast, if that was even possible for a being like him. Then he hastily shook it off and turned back to the remaining trix with his usual commanding composure.

"Here, take this." He hastily tossed a small rectular object at Icy, who winced at the hard impact of the throw as she caught it. "Go to the Red tower and destroy Bloom now!" He snapped sharply.

"We're on it!" Icy replied at once, leading Stormy out of the cave.

"Wait, before you go let me play this for you one more time!" He grinned as they reluctantly turned around.

"Do you know what would happen if you hadn't been so lenient? We wouldn't have lost Darcy!"

At this it was Icy who fired an angry blast of magic at him. Unfortunately he appeared to catch it with ease and disintegrated it at once.

"Good," He smirked. "Take that rage and go get Bloom!"

"That's my girls!" He looked satisfied as they flew off, full of hatred.

000

As the centaur led Sailor Moon through the starlit corridor she was filled with the soft floaty sensation of walking on air.

"It feels nice," She murmured. It reminded her of her own powers.

"Wow, I know where this place got its name!" She couldn't help commenting at the sight of the shining gold floor beneath her feet.

Eventually they came to a large pool of water. The Sailor Scout stared in amazement as a golden stand rose up from inside the water, creating a fountain. A fairy flew down from the starry sky and landed gracefully on top of it. She was most unlike any of the fairies Sailor Moon had seen in the Magix dimension so far, her whole body looked like it was carved from a diamond and her wings were transparent and glittered with white dust.

"I am Arcadia," She announced. "Fairy of the Golden kingdom and we are the elder council."

"And when she says elder, she means it." The centaur added.

"We have been around since the beginning of the magical universe!" A mermaid emerged from the pool and crawled onto a rock. She looked a bit different to the other mermaids Serena had seen in her lifetime, her tail looked more like a skirt.

"We are both a part of its time and outside of it." Said a creature that Moon decided was an owl made of paper.

"Hmm." Moon looked at this assortment of strange beings thoughtfully.

"Well I am Sailor Moon, or should I say Princess Serenity of the Moon Kingdom of the Silver Millennium and I believe someone here wants to see me?" She decided it was time for her introduction.

"You are quite correct." Arcadia nodded. With a flick of her shimmering wrist a portal opened next to her. "She awaits in there."

"Right." Moon walked into it and found herself in another room, which seemed to be made entirely from blue glass.

"Sailor Moon?"

At the mention of her name she turned around to see a woman with long flowing hair the colour of deep amber, the dark red tips curling around her ankles standing in the doorway. She was wearing a golden Sailor fuku that resembled a suit of armour.

"Galaxia!" She cried in surprise. "You're the one who wanted to see me?"

The woman nodded. "Indeed. The golden kingdom is my only passageway to this dimension, as it is outside of its time. In fact it could be the equivalent to the time gates of our dimension!"

She journeyed closer, her curls cascading out behind her like a fiery waterfall.

She smiled. "You know I never got to thank you for saving me and the others all those moons ago."

Sailor Moon didn't know what to say, it felt like what had needed to be said had already been exchanged between the two of them the last time they had met. But she did give a warm smile in understanding.

Galaxia continued. "I was able to guide the fallen ones back to their homes. It is thanks to you that all the members of the Sailor Alliance are at peace once again. Am I correct in saying that you visited Mermaid recently?"

"Yes," Moon replied. "Sailor Mermaid showed me the archives, and how I'm supposed to fulfill my destiny and create Crystal Tokyo with Prince Darien." She looked at the other Sailor Scout. "But why did you summon me here today? Is there something else I should know about?"

Galaxia's garnet eyes flashed gravely. "I'm afraid so. Chaos has returned, you witnessed and fought a fraction of its power."

"What?" Moon gasped. "You mean that Lisslis creature that possessed Darcy was a portion of Chaos? But how come I was able to destroy it so quickly?"

"You didn't destroy it. It will regroup with its other components and become unstoppable. Please Sailor Moon, you cannot allow it to possess another like it possessed me for so long!" For a moment Galaxia's eyes reflected the pain and anguish she had felt at the entity of pure destruction poisoning her mind.

Sailor Moon looked at her as the crescent Moon on her forehead flashed. "I'll do whatever it takes to stop it Galaxia! I will not let the Cosmos live in darkness!"

"And I will help you Sailor Moon," Galaxia spoke softly. "My time as the Galactic Sailor Scout will soon come to pass, but not before you allow me to give you a token of my gratitude, your own bracelets."

She crossed her arms in front of her. The jeweled golden bracelets on her wrists flashed and sent beams of light to Sailor Moon's. Two bracelets appeared on her wrists over her gloves, they were just like Galaxia's except they were sparkling silver instead of gold, and held deep blue moonstones in the centre that matched the girl's eyes.

"Wow," Sailor Moon looked at her new accessories in wonder. "These are really something!"

"Please use these to put an end to Chaos once and for all, when the time is right, you will know what to do." The legendary Senshi smiled before walking into a tunnel of light that was appearing behind her. "For you are the new light of hope!"

"Thank you Galaxia." Sailor Moon nodded.

In the blink of an eye she could see the scenery molding back into the golden courtyard. She turned around to see the council of elders at the fountain.

"Did you speak with your advocate?" Arcadia wanted to know.

"Yes," Sailor Moon said, sounding full of peace. "Yes I did." She looked to her new bracelets once again. As she felt their power settle into her aura, a soft breeze blew around her and six brightly colored jewels seemed to emerge from a box that looked like a dark blue rubix cube and swirl around her.

"Huh?" She opened her eyes to see that her hands were raised to her shoulders and the star shaped objects were floating above her.

The members of the council exchanged looks.

"It appears you have been chosen to wield the water stars!" Arcadia finally spoke.

"The water whats?" For a moment Moon looked up at the magical jewels as she tried to figure out where she had heard that phrase. Then it finally dawned on her.

"Those things are what the Winx came here to find!" She realized. "They think they're the key to defeating Baltor!"

"We have heard about Baltor." The centaur said.

"It is true, 'these things' as you can them, are the only items that can extinguish the dragon fire!" The owl made of paper told her.

"Huh," The water stars fell down from the air into Moon's hands as she ceased their levitation. "But they came so far to get here! It just wouldn't be right if I took them," She tried to give them back to Arcadia but the ethereal fairy placed a hand in front of her, signaling her to stop.

"You have no need to pass a test to obtain them Sailor Moon, many galaxies and dimensions have heard of your bravery and compassion. We understand that it is you who must defeat the evil that plagues the magical universe, and it will never be wiped out completely without the water stars!"

"But Galaxia has already given me gifts I can use!" Moon protested. "And I have the Silver Crystal…"

"You just experienced a fraction of the power in Sailor Galaxia's bracelets when the water stars chose you," Arcadia cut in. "Let that be a clue to how they work."

"Alright." Moon sighed, the stars still in her hands. "As long as the universe will be saved, I guess!"

Arcadia handed her the rubix cube box in which to place the water stars. "Magic speed Sailor Moon!" She bid farewell before activating a portal of exit.

000

The Winx had now reached the magic door to the red tower. However, instead of just the one, it was a whole herd of flying centaurs that attacked them. Despite the teamwork of Layla and Ophir soon pretty much everyone had been captured by those energy javelins they wielded. The fairies's enchantix powers appeared to be weakened by the pulsating blue energy from the weapons as they struggled to free themselves from the traps.

"A little help would be great right about now!" Stella groaned, trying to pull the weapon out of the ground.

"I am the terror that flaps in the night!" A feminine figure appeared in the mist. "I am the weirdo that sits next to you on the bus!" She swished her wings like a cape as the fog parted. "I am Sailor Moon!" Suddenly she looked at herself with a sweatdrop. "Wait that's not right…"

000

Dimensions away in an alleyway another superhero was making his own grand entrance.

"Hold it right there! For I am Darkwing Duck!" He exclaimed, his dark cape flapping out behind him as he posed Senshi-style. "I right wrongs and triumph over evil and in the name of the moon I will punish you!" He pointed at his five very confused enemies.

"Wait, that's not right…" He sweatdropped.

"Bwahahaha! Dorkwing looks like a girl! Dorkwing looks like a girl!" One of the criminals, a duck in a brightly coloured jester outfit, started rolling around on the floor laughing maniacally.

"Gee DW, that's kinda different to your usual entrance!" His sidekick commented.

"I know Launchpad," Darkwing said, unsurprisingly irritated.

000

Back in the magical valley Sailor Moon had recovered from her moment of confusion to realize that the centaurs had ceased their fire and were all talking among themselves in a hushed manner.

"Sailor Moon? Can it be?" One was asking.

"She must be the one with the power to save the universe!" Another exclaimed.

"But how can we be sure?" A third asked.

"Hmm-hmm?"

They all turned around to see that said Senshi had loudly cleared her throat. Even though she was wearing a mask everyone could tell that she was unimpressed.

"If you're done gossiping, I wasn't finished yet! I am Sailor Moon! I fight for love and justice! And I've just been to the golden kingdom and I got the water stars!"

Everyone gasped as she took one out of the box she was carrying and held it out in the palm of her hand for all to see. She wasn't surprised when all the centaurs got down on one front leg and bowed.

"Our apologies, Sailor Moon, we know who you are. We will leave you in peace." The one nearest to her backed away respectfully.

After they had flown off Sailor Moon turned to face her expectant crowd with a sigh.

"Sailor Moon we need those water stars to stop Baltor!" Bloom said desperately.

Sailor Moon stood there, clutching the legendary relics. She still felt bad they had come all this way, but she just couldn't shake what Arcadia had said.

"Sorry fairies but I'm here to protect universes, dimensions, the entire Cosmos! I can't leave what could help me in the hands of another, I need to find out more about these myself, and besides Bloom," She looked at the fire fairy with a piercing gaze through her mask. "What they'll do to him, they'll most certainly do to you!"

"I'm prepared to take that risk." Bloom wasn't backing down. Sailor Moon looked at her incredulously; did she have a death wish?

"I got a better idea!" The voice from above made them look up in alarm to see Icy flying overhead. "Why don't you give those to us?"

"You…" The threatening growl made Sailor Moon whirl around to be face to face with a thunderous witch of storms.


	18. Intermission of the Inner Scouts

"…Me?" Sailor Moon squeaked nervously at the sight of Stormy's menacing visage.

"You're gonna pay for what you've done Sailor skank!" The witch yelled, firing a large wave of magenta electrical energy in her direction, fortunately Moon was able to dodge in time but it only missed her by a hair.

"_Whoa, she can't have been that strong when I fought her before!"_ She thought frantically, feeling her heart thumping beneath her crystal. _"I've gotta get out of here! Or at least away from everyone else!"_

She promptly leapt into the air and flew as far away as she could from the group; Stormy pursued her relentlessly firing lightning bolts after her.

Icy looked up at the sky where her sister had been moments ago. Part of her badly wanted to join in the chase to seek vengeance for Darcy on Sailor Moon but deep down she knew she couldn't ignore Baltor's orders or it'd be all the worse for her and Stormy.

"Just because you don't have the water stars I'm still gonna take you down losers!" She hurled a huge ice wave at Bloom, who promptly melted it.

"Oh yeah? You and whose army?"

Icy hissed before remembering the rectangular object clutched tightly in her hand. "I don't need an army when I've got this!" She smirked, throwing it into the air. It took flight in the shape of a paper crow and flew towards the fairies.

"Ancient crows dust from the dark dimension!" She explained with a nasty grin as it disintegrated into black particles of ash around Bloom. "It blocks your power!"

"Ugh!" Bloom immediately tried waving her arms, her usual method of summoning her power, to see if the witch's words were true.

"Even without the dragon fire, our powers are working just fine!" Stella exclaimed, hurling a sunbeam at Icy, it hit her immediately on impact.

"Some of us should find Sailor Moon!" Flora exclaimed as they watched Icy pull herself up. "It looked like Stormy really had it in for her!"

"But she didn't give us the water stars!" Stella argued.

"Hold on, maybe if we help her, she might share them!" Tecna suggested.

"Good idea," Bloom nodded. "You, Flora and Musa go look for her! We'll deal with Icy!"

000

At present the Senshi in question was elsewhere in the yellow swamp, desperately fighting for her life. She didn't even have time to throw in some attacks of her own as she was too busy trying to evade whatever the witch of Storms hurled in her direction.

"_I don't understand,"_ She eyed her opponent nervously as she struggled to catch her breath. _"Does she even know what happened to Darcy? No one else knew I was there that day! One thing's for sure, she definitely wasn't like this when we last met!"_

"W-what exactly have I done?" She hesitantly dared to ask aloud.

"You know full well what you've done, murderer!" Stormy snarled, the wind rising up in a circle around her as her fists were filled with lightning.

"_What?"_ Moon barely had time to wonder before she was knocked to the ground by a savage gust of wind.

Almost crying out at the pain in her shoulder, Moon could scarcely get up before falling to her knees.

"_What do I do?"_ She thought anxiously. _"I can't get close enough to work my magic! Is it Chaos giving her a boost?"_

_**Zoom!  
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Suddenly something shot from the sky and scratched Stormy's hand, catching her off guard.

"Argh!" She shouted in frustration, taking a look at the cut it had made.

"Huh?" Sailor Moon looked at the ground to see what had landed there. Her heart leapt at the sight of a beautiful red rose!

"Being fueled by anger can only lead to your downfall." A strong male voice could be heard in the clearing. A handsome man in an elegant black tuxedo and top hat strode into view and stood protectively in front of Sailor Moon, his dark colours sticking out in the yellow atmosphere. Like Sailor Moon, a pointy white eye mask hid his face.

"Tuxedo Mask!" Sailor Moon's face flushed pink. The man turned to her with a grin.

"Sailor Moon, mind if I give you a hand?"

Having seemingly lost her voice, the blonde Senshi nodded.

Stormy blew a strong horizontal tornado in their direction, however quick as a flash he produced his cane and twirled it rapidly, deflecting the wind back at her and making her fall to the ground.

Tuxedo Mask looked at Sailor Moon with an urgent expression.

"She'll be back up in a few seconds. What do you say we get out of here?"

"Sounds good to me," Sailor Moon just about managed to say.

With that he scooped her up in his arms and they teleported away.

"Oh no you DON'T!" Stormy hastily got up and leapt at them but they vanished just in time and she staggered forward at thin air.

"WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT!" She whipped around to snap at Tecna, Flora and Musa who had just appeared behind her.

000

When she opened her eyes Sailor Moon found they were both in a small but spacious room tastefully decorated with modern furniture.

"Where are we?" She wondered.

Tuxedo Mask gave a small blush. "My American apartment. I had to get you out of there and I couldn't think of anywhere else to go-" He was caught off guard as Sailor Moon threw her arms around his neck.

"Oh Tuxedo Mask! I've missed you so much my handsome prince!" She gushed, wanting to get her feelings out there so that he could see her unspeakable happiness at being reunited. Despite the fact that he was not as open with his emotions, the look in his deep blue eyes told her that he felt the same way and they shared a passionate kiss as they indulged in the realization that they were together again.

"I should take a look at that shoulder." He said seriously, seeing her flinch as he gently put her down. After they both detransformed he placed his hand firmly on her shoulder blade and closed his eyes to focus his healing powers. Serena gave a soft sigh as she felt that whatever damage had been caused by the blast was taken away, leaving a warm sensation of relaxation in her shoulder muscles.

Darien opened his eyes to face her. "Does that feel better?" 

"Of course, thank you." Serena said somewhat shyly. "But hold up, why did you come over and more importantly, how did you know where to find me?"

Darien turned away with a sigh.

"Remember when I was having nightmares during the Negamoon attacks?"

"Uh huh," It still felt too painful for Serena to relive.

"Back then I thought that if I stayed away I would be keeping you safe. But then you said something that still sticks with me now. You said that it was better to make the most of the present rather than stop anything happening at all. So when I saw you were in trouble I decided I would take action into my own hands and protect you. After all," He looked at her with a small smile. "Hasn't Tuxedo Mask always been around to fight alongside the Princess?"

Serena stuck her tongue out playfully with a small giggle as she put her arms around him. "Of course! But don't forget, there've been loads of times where the Princess has saved Tuxedo Mask!"

Darien pushed her back slightly. "So why did you have an angry witch chasing you in the first place?"

Later the two of them were sitting in a little café while Serena told Darien everything that happened. She had even shown him the water stars, which were now on the table in front of them.

"So you healed one of these witches and she's now staying with Raye?" He repeated the last thing he had heard.

Serena nodded. "And I think Chaos must've been trying to control all three of them, I could sense it in the lightning witch when we were fighting earlier. Maybe when I've strengthened some of my magic I can go back and finish the fight but in the meantime she's just too powerful."

Darien nodded. "I'm certainly glad I stepped in. You were in no condition to get any closer!" He placed his hand over hers with a serious expression. "You know I don't like this idea of you going up against a bad guy with the power of Chaos on your own! Maybe when I should go with you."

Serena smiled, but it had a hint of sadness. "You know I would love that so much, you and me in the magic dimension together, but I know I'm being selfish, I can't ask you to give up your studies because of me."

Darien sighed. "Well I have to do something to help you, I know! When I'm done with my next paper I'll have a lot more free time, so then I can come visit you!"

That sounds perfect!" Serena's eyes shone with excitement. Then the light bulb above her head seemed to flash brightly right at the same point she came up with an idea. Darien couldn't help but be a little alarmed at this.

"Actually I do have a way you can help!" Serena looked at the water stars thoughtfully. "I need to hide these from the fairies and Valtor. Maybe if they're spread out they won't be able to look for them!"

She chose the one she thought was the prettiest and placed it in Darien's hand.

"Wait, you're giving this to me?"

"Of course!" She smiled softly. "We'll all have one each, so when we look at them we can think of each other together!"

"Maybe it's because they're the same shape but they seem to remind me of the star locket," Darien looked up at the ceiling wistfully.

"I still have it you know!" Serena fished in her pocket and pulled it out. "It will always be more precious to me!"

For a moment that seemed to last for eternity they sat watching the scenery around them, while listening to the beautiful melody that played from the locket.

Eventually Darien turned back to her with a grin. "Do you have to go back there right away?"

Serena smiled, opening her communicator. "I think Luna can keep covering for me a little longer!"

That afternoon they spent together was the most wonderful afternoon Serena could remember since, well the last afternoon she had spent with Darien. They went to a restaurant, did some sightseeing then spent the rest of the evening in Darien's room watching movies. The whole time Serena was in her happy place, this perfect little bubble of time that could go on forever with only the two of them inside and that no one else could penetrate.

It wasn't until the next morning did the nasty reality sink in.

"I don't wanna go back therrre!" Serena moaned groggily, trying to flatten clumps of her tangled hair out in front of the bathroom mirror. "I wanna stay here where I feel wanted!"

"Don't be silly, I'm sure they want you there," Darien stood next to a chair drinking coffee. "You didn't throw any crumpled math tests at them did you?"

"No!" Serena protested indignantly, shuffling out the bathroom to join him. "They don't study math! Well there's that mathmagic stuff but I'm not sure how useful it'll be to me in later life! And then they're gonna be out all the time partying with their boyfriends all the time while I have sit forever alone in the corner!"

"But then that means you get more time on your own to practice your new powers, right?" Darien suggested. Serena couldn't help glowering at him.

"What?" He didn't know what she was getting at there.

"Forget it," Serena sighed, leaning on his shoulder.

"Well maybe they're just jealous because Sailor Moon can kick their enemies' butt better than they can!" He kissed her forehead as she snuggled closer. They held the moment for a few minutes. From the corner of her eye Serena could see that Darien had stashed the water star safely in his dresser next to some photos of the two of them together.

"Serena?" The prince of earth eventually broke the silence.

"Yes Darien?" She looked up at him hopefully.

"Are you gonna change out of that shirt? I kinda need it back!"

"Oh…sure," Serena sweatdropped as she looked down at the baggy pink shirt of his that she was wearing. "Just …let me find my clothes first!"

000

When she was finally ready Serena shimmered back into her Alfea bedroom in an instant. She was immediately happy that Stella wasn't around to see her arrival. Especially as she was now face to face with a rather angry version of herself.

"Serena where have you been!" Luna hissed. Serena couldn't help but be a little unnerved by seeing such a livid expression on her face. "You disappear in an unknown forest then don't come back and leave me with a vague message about staying the night with Darien?! And then those fairies come back to the ship talking about how Sailor Moon disappeared in a fight with one of the witches for the water stars! Aside from having to pretend to be you the whole ride home, do you have any idea how worried I was?!"

"Yikes! Magicus dissolvicus!" Serena quickly transformed Luna back to her feline self. "I left you a message didn't I? Everything happened way too fast for me to do anything else!"

Luna was still mad. "You could have given me a bit more information! I have been your guardian your whole life! Can you imagine what I would do if I lost you?"

"Oh Luna," Serena picked up the cat and cuddled her close, despite Luna's protests at first. "But you trained me to fight, didn't you? You wanted me to be strong so I could protect everyone! And that is what I aim to do! But now I've been given these magical water stars and I need to figure out what to do with them!"

"Let me see," Luna wriggled out of the girl's grasp so she could get them out to show her. "Oh my," She remarked as they shone from inside their container. "I can see why the winx were after them! But you're right, we will have to find some way of concealing them if you don't want to arouse suspicion!"

"Actually I already have a plan!" At this Serena gave a knowing determined smile as she flipped open her communicator/teleporter. "But in order for it to work you're gonna have to do something for me!"

"I know I'm going to regret it but alright," Luna groaned.

Serena's eyes sparkled deviously. "You'll stay here and be my decoy while I give these to the girls!"

"WHAT?"

000

After materializing outside one of the residence rooms, Serena knocked on the big blue door. Sure enough one of her trusted Senshi opened it, still clutching her communicator from their last conversation just five minutes ago.

"Hey Ami!" Serena gave a big smile before grabbing her blue haired friend in a hug. "Sorry it's so short notice!"

"At least you called me in advance this time!" Ami giggled when the blonde finally released her. "Raye told me you just dropped in on her without any warning!"

"She told you already huh?" Serena had a small sweatdrop.

"It's alright, she also told me you had a major casualty on your hands!"

"I don't have one of those but I do have one of these!" Serena produced the mystical box and showed Ami the water stars.

"They're beautiful!" The Mercurian princess gasped as she reached out to touch one. "Wherever did you get them?"

The two girls seated themselves at Ami's coffee table as Serena relayed the Golden Kingdom adventure.

"So if they work on water I thought maybe you could take a look at them and figure out how they work!" Serena finished.

"Well they certainly seem fascinating... I'll see what I can do!" Ami picked one up and held it to the light. "But I couldn't take all of them, you were the one they were given to, and I still have exams to prepare for!"

"I figured you'd say that!" Serena grinned. "That's why I'm giving one to each of the girls, I already gave Darien the first one! I thought it could be a cool thing we could have as part of our Scouts club and when we hold them we can imagine all of us together!"

"That's a wonderful idea!" Ami smiled. "I'm sorry about being strapped for time today…"

"No worries!" Serena hugged her again, before flipping open her teleport. "This is important to you! Even without your new good luck charm I know you'll ace all your tests Ames!"

"I will keep it with me at all times." Ami promised sincerely as she waved goodbye to her friend.

000

Serena arrived at her next destination barely a minute later.

"Alright!" She pumped a fist in front of Hikawa temple. "I'm on a roll! I'VE GOT THE POWER!" She raised the magical mystical box to the skies with both hands and did an awesome feel good shuffle dance.

"Are you going to come in?" Raye stood behind her with crossed arms.

"Sure I w-AAAH!" Serena tripped over a cobbled stone and let go of the box while her arms flailed wildly on either side as she struggled to regain her balance. However her efforts were in vain and she fell flat on her face, right in front of the Miko's feet.

"Wait," She suddenly realized her hands were empty. "Where's my magic box?" Her pigtails whipped from side to side as she frantically searched for the valuable item.

"Looking for this meatball head?" Raye sarcastically held the box she had caught when the blonde had tripped.

"Oh yeah, there it is!" Serena spied it and hastily jumped up to retrieve it. "What would I do without you my psychic priestess?" She batted her black eyelashes with an expression that was a little too soppy.

"I don't wanna know what you'd do but I imagine the planet blowing up!" Raye sighed as they went inside.

When they entered the living room they found Darcy sitting cross-legged at the low table next to a pile of good-luck charms. She was wearing a set of robes identical to Raye's.

"She's still not very well," the Martian princess told Serena. "She hasn't been able to go very far most of the time, this is only the second time she's actually been able to get out of bed!"

"Will she ever get better?" Serena looked at the witch's direction in concern.

"She should do, All she really needs is time off to rid herself of the bad vibes and train her powers when they resurface. We've been organizing the good-luck charms today, I thought it might help her with her psychic abilities!"

"Hey girls!"

They turned around to see Lita grinning at them and carrying a heavy plastic bag.

"Lita! It's been ages!" Serena glomped her.

The brunette rubbed the back of her head with a nervous laugh. "I'm starting to see what you mean Raye!"

" I know right? At least she had the decency to ring in advance this time!"

"Huh?" Serena turned back to Raye accusingly.

"Well you did say you wanted to talk to all of us, I thought if Lita came round it would save you having to make as many trips around the world!" Raye replied.

"Oh, yeah that is a good idea." Serena had to admit. "But wait, Lita I need to tell you about..."

"I've already met Darcy!" The brunette filled her in. "I dropped by the other day and Raye told me everything! We kinda ran into a sticky situation outside though…"

"We'll tell you when we actually sit down." Raye added.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's get inside and…ooh!" Her mouth watered at the desserts in Lita's bag.

"I had to come prepared!" Lita winked.

At this moment Darcy noticed the trio in the doorway. "Serena!" She tried to get up but her legs were way too shaky and she ended up nearly falling flat on her face.

"Whoa whoa take it easy!" Raye and Lita rushed over. "Remember what I said about one step at a time?" Raye said sternly.

"Sorry," The witch sweatdropped.

"Hey Darcy! How're you doing?" Serena joined them with a friendly smile.

"I've been better," Darcy admitted. She still didn't know herself if that was true, back when the dragon fire quest seemed to mean something she used to feel at the top of her game. But here, even though she was constantly sick and tired all the time, she was surrounded by people who would look after her and support her. She couldn't remember ever having had that before.

"Sooo, have you met Raye's grandpa and Chad yet?" Serena winked as they seated themselves opposite her.

Raye sighed as Lita burst out laughing. "Yes, yes she has!" They both remembered all too well what had gone down, including the part where Darcy had asked Lita if Chad was Raye's minion. At least her grandpa had been ok with them taking Darcy in, and as an added bonus Chad promised to tone down the singing!

"But then again he'd do anything for you!" Serena and Lita helpfully reminded her in unison, exchanging knowing looks.

"Knock it off!" the Martian glared.

"Even without my powers I can sense that you like him and he obviously likes you so why haven't you made a move already?" Darcy asked, too tired to sugarcoat things.

"Not you too!" Raye groaned.

There was another small silence as Serena and Lita looked around the room, expecting the other residents of the shrine to show up.

"They're out doing grocery shopping at the moment." The raven-haired girl explained, correctly interpreting their gestures. "So we have some peace and quiet for now."

Lita turned to Serena with a curious expression. "So what did you call a Sailor meeting for anyway?"

"Aha I thought you'd never ask! I have something each for you guys!" Serena opened the box and took out two of the water stars that she placed on the table.

"Wow cool!" Lita exclaimed, picking hers up and holding it up. "Look it almost matches my earrings!" She giggled.

"Wait why do I get that one?" Raye asked indignantly at the sight of hers. She childishly pointed to the inside of the box. "I want the one in the corner! It's way prettier!"

"Fine, if you say so!" Serena shrugged and switched the jewels. Raye looked satisfied with this.

"Wait, are those water stars?" Darcy had spied the objects. " Where did you get them, I thought they could only be found in the Golden Kingdom which is impossible to reach!"

"They _were_ in the Golden Kingdom until Sailor Moon showed up!" Serena couldn't help smirking before turning to her trusted Senshi. "But seriously, I came to speak to someone important, the next thing I know, I'm getting loaded with more freebies!"

"Did Baltor show up and try to take them? They're the only magic that can completely extinguish the dragon fire!" Darcy interjected before anyone could say anything else, with urgency in her golden eyes.

Serena took a deep breath. She hadn't wanted to tell this part of the story. "No, but your sisters did. One attacked me with lightning and I probably wouldn't have made it out if Tuxedo Mask hadn't saved me!" She looked at Darcy. "I tried to use my healing magic, but she was just too strong! I'll have to power up before getting close again!"

"That's Stormy for you," Darcy tried to give a very watery smile. "But I don't know, even though I know they don't care what's happened to me, and hell, anyone would argue that all three of us deserve it, I still don't want them to end up like…" She placed a hand over her mouth as she looked down, trying to keep the water inside her eyes.

Serena placed a hand on her shoulder. "We'll get through to them Darcy, I'm sure of it! As I told you before, I will always favour peace over fighting and I will do my very best to help those who are suffering! After all," She looked knowingly at Raye and Lita, "If I can help queen Nehellania and Sailor Galaxia, then whom can't I help?"

"She's totally right," Lita put in. "She wasn't kidding about those two!"

"I shouldn't speak badly of Galaxia though," Serena said. "I mean she was the whole reason I went to the Golden kingdom in the first place…" She filled them in on what had transpired.

"Hmm… so maybe those gifts are the key to defeating this Baltor…" Raye mused.

"But wait, do they do the same thing that the bracelets of her minions did?" Lita asked concernedly.

"I don't know, but I don't particularly wanna ask them," Serena knew this was still a sore spot for the intergalactic Sailor Scouts, even though they had got their lives and kingdoms back the last time she visited them. "I guess I'll have to train with Luna back at Alfea!"

"Under the light of the full moon!" Lita joked. Serena snorted with laughter. "Now wouldn't that be a fun postcard picture?"

A small thump made Raye look in Darcy's direction to see that she had now rested her head on the table.

"Looks like the patient needs to turn in," She announced. "I'll be right back," She helped Darcy up and guided her into the next room.

Lita turned her water star over in her hand. "I wonder what these do exactly, Darcy said they'd wipe out the power of this bad guy you're up against!"

"Well that's all I know about them too, but I'm hoping Ami can analyze hers, I still don't quite get how they work!"

"I'm sure she'll get results, seeing as how she's the best when it comes to water!" Lita reassured her. She placed her bag on the table and started unloading her homemade cookies.

"You think you've got time for a bite to eat?" She joked, as if she knew she didn't have to ask.

"Even if I didn't I'd put this first!" Serena responded eagerly by reaching for the biggest biscuit.

"Hey!" The door slid open to reveal an indignant Raye. "Save some for me before you chow down! And what did you say earlier about Tuxedo Mask?"

The next couple of hours progressed rather uneventfully as the three girls talked and gossiped over Lita's desserts. Serena had briefly wondered how much was ok to tell Darcy about their Senshi pasts but Raye pointed out that she already knew hers and Lita's identities as Scouts of their respective planets thanks to an incident with a rogue youma outside the shrine. Besides, the identity of Sailor Moon, which was by far the biggest bombshell, had already been cleared. Serena had also shared some (definitely not all!) details of her latest date. Eventually the topic came back to the water stars.

"So now we all have one each!" Lita smiled at the objects on the table.

"Almost," Serena couldn't help sweatdropping. "I need to give the last one to Mina, if you know anything about her whereabouts right now, I'd sure be grateful!"

At this both her friends had the same expression. "Are you really sure you want to leave something like this in her care?" Raye asked, semi-seriously.

"Last time I spoke to her she was still in America," Lita tried to help. "I'm not sure if she's finished filming her part yet, but when I asked all I got was evil laughter!"

"…Right. Guess I'll have to find her myself then." Serena got up. "Well, it's definitely been fun girls! And I won't say goodbye 'cause I'll probably be dropping in on you again before you know it!" She did a mock salute, which the other two copied.

"Yeah you probably will." Raye agreed.

"And if we get any unexpected visits from Mina or hear about her on the news we'll be sure to let you know!" Lita added.

000

As she sat in her bedroom that night Serena couldn't shake the uneasy feeling of foreboding around her. It had been a great couple of days; she had received a gift from an old friend, even more from some beings she had never met and reunited with most of her team! As an added bonus the winx were too happy to have beaten Icy and Stormy to recognize her decoy (even though she still needed to see Luna's acting skills for herself). So why was anything still bugging her?

"Serena? Is everything alright?" Luna asked gently as she curled at the foot of the bed.

"Hmm, I don't know," Serena sighed heavily. "I just keep thinking about the fact that Darcy's sister's out there and after my guts!" She threw her head back on the pillow. "My gu-uts, my guts," She sang softly to herself, kicking her legs in the air.

"I must say it was a wise idea for the other Sailor Scouts to guard the water stars!" Luna looked at the two they had left.

"Yeah, now if only I could track Mina down somehow I could give her the last one!" Serena reached over to her bedside table and picked up her phone. "I wonder if there's a tracking device on here… huh? What's this?" A list of missed calls caught her attention.

"I know I've got urgent news but why does she?" She wondered, pressing redial.

"Serena! You finally found me!" The recipient cheered.

"Mina what's with all these calls?" Serena wanted to know. "Are you finally gonna tell me where you are so I can come and visit you? I got you a present!" She said the last part in a singsong voice.

"Even better! I wanted to tell you that we're coming over to see you sometime this week!"

"Wait, what?" Serena sweatdropped. "You don't even know how to get here!"

"Yes we do, my communicator has the same teleport as yours!" Mina said matter-of-factly.

"Ok, but second off, what do you mean 'we'? Are the girls coming too? They would've told me today!"

"No it's just me, Artemis and my pen-pal from Egypt! You remember him right?"

"You know full well I do," Serena rolled her eyes. She had become very good friends with him when Mina had first introduced them, but she had given up on asking her deputy Senshi about the meaning of that vivid dream involving one of her favorite ponies and a wild party.

"Well anyway I told him about this dimension of Magic tricks and he insisted on checking it out! I just couldn't say no! Besides, I have something for you too and it's really important!"

"Well, I'd love to see you guys again, you know I would!" Serena said sincerely. "But it's easier said than done, I'll have to elude my bodyguards-sorry 'new friends' yet again! I'm not sure how longer I'll be able to keep it up; they've got location spells Mina! Location spells!"

At this she could hear another voice shout something from across the room on the other end of the phone, which Mina relayed. "Marik says, well duh! That's where he comes in! Well he didn't exactly say 'duh', I said 'duh', but you get my gist!"

"Oh boy," Serena gave a huge sigh, sometimes her friend really was crazy, but it was the good kind of crazy that was fun to have around and she had missed it since she started Alfea.

"And that's not the only thing I have up my sleeve! Because I hope you haven't forgotten, this is Sailor V you're talking too! She has had to break and enter into various secured areas many a time for the greater good!" She could imagine Mina making her trademark V for victory sign.

"So I'll come over in two days 'kay? Just so you're not caught off guard and stuff! And don't worry, we have a plan!"

"I look forward to it!" Serena smiled.

"What did she say?" Luna asked curiously as the girl put her phone back and placed the water stars back in their box, away from prying eyes.

Serena looked up with a grin. "Looks like Alfea's gonna get V'd!"


	19. Guest star support (1 chapter exclusive!

…**There I did it, I gave you a cameo! I hope you're happy!**

**Marik: Immensely! And thanks for giving me all the-**

**Mina: No spoilers!**

**(sigh) they probably won't like it…**

**Mina: You wanted to write this didn't you?**

**(small voice) Yes?**

**Mina: So shuddup! Helloo loyal fans of Wings of a Moon Princess! Here's your chapter! And so far I think it's my favourite! :D**

**Marik: I agree because I'm in it! ;)**

**Mina: But we were also in the April fools…**

**Marik: Doesn't count. Anyway, enjoy the show!**

000

When the destined day arrived Ms Faragonda was in her office looking out of the window when she saw two people enter behind her through the glass reflection.

"How may I help you?" She turned around to face them.

"Hello fairy Godmother we're here for a miss Serena Tsukino! We're taking her out for the day!" The girl gave a cheesy grin.

At this Faragonda smiled gravely. "I'm sorry but I'm afraid that won't be possible. Serena can't go out unsupervised, if she does she may be attacked by Baltor!"

"What do you mean unsupervised?! She has u-" The girl started to shout but the boy held his arm in front, silencing her.

"Oh I think you'll find that she can." With an evil smile he produced a shining gold scepter from his belt. The duo let out some evil laughter as the Egyptian eye on the orb of the staff began to glow…

000

Serena stood some distance from the main building of Alfea as she scouted the area with a pair of binoculars.

"They'll be here any minute now!" She said to herself. "I know I should've asked what they were planning!"

Luna didn't bother to suggest that the deputy leader of the Sailor Scouts wouldn't try a mad hare-brained scheme to make a big entrance because she knew her almost as well as Serena. Not to mention she was bringing one of her mad friends with her, the kind of which one was amazed how she managed to come across. At least it wasn't a bad thing, Serena would have one of her guardians to talk to and she was looking forward to seeing Artemis again.

"Don't worry Luna, you'll get your alone-time, we'll do our thing while you do yours!" Serena winked. "Argh!" Luna furiously shook her head to hide the blush on her feline face.

"That's what I'm afraid of." She muttered as they walked back to the dormitory.

"S'up." She gave a wave to the winx as she entered the living room and plonked herself down onto the nearest chair to whip out her phone.

"So these friends of yours, what time did they say they were coming?" Flora looked up at her.

"They didn't." Serena replied. "But my Serena senses can feel that they'll be here soon!"

"What are they like?" Bloom asked with interest.

"Weeell, Mina's one of my bestest BFFFs, you saw her picture in my photo album! And she's bringing her pen pal from Egypt, he's cool." Serena looked into the distance as she sighed to herself. "I hope they didn't steal a car again to get here… I mean is it technically stealing if they hypnotized the driver into giving it to them?" She didn't seem to notice the winx staring at her in a way that said 'How is she friends with felons?'

"Excuse me ladies, have you seen a girl with hair that looks like meatballs?"

Everyone looked up to see Ms Faragonda enter the dormitory. What was odd was that she was wearing a stripy bandana over her forehead.

"Ms Faragonda!" Bloom exclaimed, coming over to join her. "Are you ok?" She asked anxiously, noticing the dull look in the older woman's eyes.

"Of course I'm fine orange one!" Bloom was taken aback as Faragonda quickly waved her away. "And I'm looking for Serena, ah there you are!" She beamed at the sight of the blonde.

"Yeah I'm here," Serena answered, knowing full well who was behind this and trying to keep a straight face. "What is it headmistress?" She desperately tried to keep her tone level.

"You are to go to my office immediately, there are two extremely good-looking visitors for you! Oh and you're free to go wherever you want in Magix without bodyguards as of now," 'Faragonda' added as an afterthought.

"Ms F, maybe you should have a lie down." Bloom was still not convinced about the teacher's mental state.

"Right, now I have to go do fairy things," Faragonda turned to leave.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Stella exclaimed, making everyone look at her. "Ms F, not trying to be rude but where did you get your accessorizing advice! Bandanas are only for the younger and hip crowd! Not to mention the colour scheme totally clashes with your suit!"

"Nonsense Shannon! Don't you know the sexy pirate look is totally styling right now? You young people with your big wings and fancy phones and your many animal pets! In my day we only had one animal a-"

"…Ms Faragonda?" Serena managed to cut in. "I'll be on my way now, thanks for the tip."

"Right. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm Batman." Faragonda grabbed one of the curtains and draped it around her shoulders like a cape then soared out the window superman style in the direction of the courtyard where she landed outside on her feet. Not waiting for a reaction from the winx Serena swooped out the room while their backs were turned and high tailed it to the office.

"I'd wondered what would happen, but I never dreamed it would be this!" Luna facepalmed from under a table. "Eek!" Suddenly another cat with the same crescent moon bald spot as her jumped down in front of her from the window. He gave a friendly smile.

"Artemis!"

"What's up Luna?"

000

Now that she had finally reached her destination Serena paused for a moment outside the door. She dreaded to think what had happened here to get Faragonda to perform that certain stunt. Well she certainly knew how it could have been done, but she was somewhat in denial at the fact that her best friend would go to such extreme measures. She'd heard about grand entrances but this was ridiculous. Of course Mina had brought along that shadow mage friend of hers to make it possible, he was even more twisted than she was! Serena was happy for her and all, but it always felt like the universe was about to implode whenever those two met up for a scheme.

Taking a deep breath Serena tentatively walked into the office.

"SURPRISE!"

Instantly all she could see was blonde hair as two pairs of arms grabbed her in a hug from either side.

"Miss me my twin?" Mina whispered in her ear.

"Do you even have to ask?" Serena smiled with a raised eyebrow as they released her.

"What about me?" Marik asked from behind her. "We haven't seen each other for months! You spoke to Mina a few days ago!" 

"I missed you too," Serena reassured him before looking around. "Hey where's Artemis? I thought he was coming too!"

"Oh I thought he'd like some quality alone time with Luna!" Mina winked. Serena frowned.

"You know, I've learned to expect stuff like this from you but a lesser person wouldn't believe you just walked into Faragonda's office and took her down like that!"

"Hey! It was better than our last plan!" Marik protested.

**Flashback**

_Mina walks up to Faragonda with a white rag. _

_Mina: Hey Fairy Godmother! Does this smell like chloroform?"_

_Faragonda leans in to check and passes out. Mina and Marik stare at the unconscious body on the ground._

_Marik: Where would we hide the body?_

_Mina: (sigh) You're right, better get back to the drawing board._

**End flashback**

"But did you like it?" They both looked at her with big sparkly puppy eyes. "I would have given her some dance moves but we wanted to get you out of here sooner rather than later." Marik added.

"It was funny, I'll give you that!" Serena admitted. "The bandana was a nice touch!"

Marik shrugged. "We had to hide the eye of Wadjet somehow."

"What's disturbing is that it was actually one of hers, we found it in there." Mina pointed to a nearby desk drawer.

"Ugh," Serena shuddered.

"So, are we gonna go or are we gonna go?" Mina excitedly linked her arm with Serena's. "I want to get me a new pair of ruby slippers!"

"Hold on a moment," Marik frowned. "I read the old lady's mind; I know what she told those girls about Serena needing protection, and I'm not sure they totally bought that stunt I just pulled and will probably try to imprison you again when they get the chance. Should I 'persuade' them to see it our way?"

Serena sighed. "I wouldn't worry about it. Hopefully no one suspects me of anything, I mean thanks to my Luna decoy and the fact they all think I'm weak…"

"THEY SAID WHAT?!"

"Umm…" Serena sweatdropped heavily at Mina's thunderous expression. Marik, while maintaining an outward calm composure, was still gripping the Millenium Rod. The Moon princess did not like the fact that he was holding it when he had that menacing look in his eyes.

Taking a deep breath she told them everything.

Only a minute later there was the strange sight to behold of Serena fighting tooth and nail to restrain an angry blonde who was kicking and screaming a battle cry at the top of her voice.

"Let me at 'em! Lemme at 'em!" Mina was screeching.

"Mina chan it's not big deal, really!" Serena desperately tried to calm her down.

"Mina, if we're going to do this, we need a strategy first! Subtlety is the key here, revenge is all the more sweeter if you don't get caught!" Marik added.

"You're right!" Mina beamed in a sudden mood swing. Serena fell to the floor with a crash.

"Guys!" She hastily got up and grabbed a strand of each of their hair, yanking them to her sides.

"Don't touch the hair!" They shrieked in unison.

Serena shook her head. "Ok kids, before we go we're gonna have to set some serious ground rules. Number one, no talking about revenge – especially of the Mina&Marik kind!"

"Aww!" They whined childishly. She gave their hair another pull.

"Ok ok! You win!"

"Right. Number two, Marik no using the Millenium Rod on innocent people out of boredom."

"I make no promises."

"Number three, Mina no beating up people who annoy you."

"What he said."

"Very good." Serena said softly, as if they were disobedient kids who had finally be let off the naughty chairs as she released them. Immediately their hands flung to the sides of their heads to smooth down their respective blonde tresses. Serena eyed them with satisfaction before smiling excitedly. "Now are we ready for a day on the magic town?"

"Smurf yeah!" Mina pumped a fist. "Look out shops, here we come!"

000

Unfortunately, unknown to them the group of fairies were discussing exactly what Serena had hoped them to forget.

"Alright girls, what do we know about Sailor Moon?" Bloom said.

"We know that she has the water stars, and that she's also very powerful." Tecna suggested.

"And we also know that she's out for herself!" Musa added.

Bloom looked to Musa, Tecna and Flora. "Last time we fought the witches you followed her and Stormy. Did you see where she went?"

Musa shook her head. "All we saw was some guy in a top hat pick her up and vanish into thin air!"

"So she has allies elsewhere?" Layla said. "I wonder why they haven't shown up before?"

"Hold on a second," Tecna held up a hand. "Don't you think it's more than just a coincidence that we first saw Sailor Moon the same day Serena arrived at Alfea? They could be connected somehow!"

"Nonsense Tecna!" Stella waved off the theory dismissively. "Serena can hardly defend herself, let alone entire realms!"

"I wonder if the library has any information about Sailor Moon?" Bloom wondered. "We should go check it out!"

Little did they know that Luna and Artemis had poked their heads around the door and had heard the entire conversation.

"They've always been curious about Sailor Moon from day one!" Luna whispered, frowning. "I've even had to pretend to be Serena to give her an alibi, which has not been fun!"

"We've got to warn the girls!" Artemis told her. "And in the mean time we'll have to stop these fairies from finding out anything else!"

"At least the library doesn't have anything on us." Luna sweatdropped, remembering her and Serena's unsuccessful search.

000

"Giant shops! Where have you been all my life?" Mina exclaimed in awe, flitting around the high street like a hyper five year old in a sweet shop and pressing her face against various windows to marvel at the displays.

"I know right? I totally had the same reaction the first time I saw it!" Serena agreed. "There was even a jewelry store that did pink and purple rhinestones!"

"Ooh let's see that one! Let's see that one!" Mina grabbed her arm and zoomed into one of the large department stores. Spotting a clear area where there were a few empty platforms, Serena lit up in recognition.

"Ooh! I've heard about those! Stella said they were called virtual dressers!"

"Virtual dressers?" Mina looked at the strange platforms with interest.

"Please step inside for your fitting." A robotic female voice informed them.

"That's something I just have to try!" Mina hopped into one. "Sweet!" She exclaimed in excitement as her clothes transformed into the stylish yellow tube-top mini dress she had been thinking of.

"My turn!" Serena stood on the one next to her. "How about something pink?" She was now wearing an exact replica of the madoka magica dress, complete with pink ribbons and red shoes!

"That looks great on you!" Mina beamed. "You should totally wear that at our next con! Now I'd like something sporty!" In an instant a crisp white tennis outfit, with matching wristbands and a visor cap, replaced the orange outfit. "This is just like our disguise gadgets!" She exclaimed.

"Ooh! So many outfits so much time!" Serena had changed into a smart business suit that was dark pink. "But I wonder, how are we gonna get through them all?"

"Hmm," Mina stroked her chin thoughtfully. "There's only one way to do it –MONTAGE TIME!"

After setting her ipod to play "Fashion" by Lady Gaga, the girls proceeded to try on as many outfits as they could, from swimsuits to ski outfits. They tried floaty ball gowns in their favourite colours and even found a few good cosplay outfits.

"And that's the last!" Serena scribbled down the name of the latest outfit they had decided to buy on a piece of paper she had conjured up.

"Hmm, I'm not so sure about this," Mina was back in the yellow mini dress and was hesitantly pulling the hem of the skirt. "Does it suit me?"

"You should get it, it brings out the blonde in your hair." Marik said taking a candy out of the large paper bag he was holding.

"WHERE'D YOU COME FROM?" Serena did a double take, her pigtails standing on end.

"I've been here the whole time. Well, in the same building anyway." He extended the candy bag to Serena. "Want one?"

"Even so, I'll never get round how you can sneak up on people like that," Serena was still weirded out as she took a sweet from the bag. "One of these days you've gotta teach me!"

"So where'd you go anyway?" Mina asked curiously, as she hopped down from her podium.

"I got more leather pants!" He grinned, offering her the candy bag. "Ha, Yugi thought he could be the only one!"

"They'll totally look much better on you," Mina said through a mouthful. Serena couldn't help but notice her friend flush a light shade of pink as she attempted to swallow her sweet.

After Serena performed a shrinking spell on their numerous shopping bags, they went to an arcade where there were virtual holograms of the fighting games. Mina was a tiny bit pissed that there wasn't a Sailor V game there, but Serena assured her it was only because no one had seen Sailor V in Magix.

Soon they came to an ice cream parlour called the White Horse. Due to a visit to a magic hair salon on the way they were all sporting temporary streaks of colour in their hair, pink for Serena, Marik had chosen dark purple, and upon discovering that her favourite bright yellow was her natural colour, Mina had opted for orange to match her Sailor fuku.

"So guys, how do we get a magic Sailor V video game?" Mina gathered them around in the booth. "I'm thinking of getting out my old outfit and parading the High street, you know, so it catches on!"

"Hmm, it could work, but every good story needs conflict, maybe I could summon one of your duel monsters and you could pretend to fight it?" Marik suggested.

"Ooh! I'm liking where this is going!" Mina's sky blue orbs sparkled enthusiastically. "Only, how 'bout we have a new take on it, say I pretend to heal it with the power of friendship and then we team up? Wouldn't Splendid VENUS just be perfect?"

"Now who would be the villain for the main bossfight?"

"Okay guys," Serena cleared her throat, making them lose their close eye contact and turn back to her. "Not that this doesn't sound epic or anything-"

"Hell Yeah it does!" Mina sang in a high-pitched tone.

"-Shuddup!" Serena silenced her. "But there was something I did want to show you today."

"Oh yeah!" Mina rounded in on her. "You said you got me a present, where is it? What is it?"

"If ya give me my personal space I can get it out!"

"…That's what she said!"

"Marik you're not helping!"

"Sorry. Here, get back! I want to see the present." He patted Mina on the shoulder. She moved back from Serena right away.

After checking over her shoulder to make sure no one in the café was watching, Serena fished in her bag for the item. "Here," She pulled out the last water star and placed it on the table.

"Ooh shiny!" Mina's eyes sparkled. "And it's my favourite colour too! You have good taste girl!" She flung her arms around Serena's neck.

"Hey, why don't I get one?" Marik asked indignantly. "Gold is my favourite colour too!"

"You can share mine," Mina told him and he looked pleased.

"As long as you keep it from girly-boy vampire-face I'm good." Serena said.

"So remind me, what exactly has he done that has people running in fear?" Mina said.

"Well from what I've heard, and trust me I've heard_ plenty_, he's been going round stealing magic," Serena recalled. "Oh and I think Bloom-" She paused at their blank stares.

"The orange one?" They immediately perked up in recognition. "- Said that he has the dark version of her powers, but I'm not sure if he's actually killed anyone yet."

"And people are actually afraid of this guy?" Marik snorted. "I've done things worse than that!"

"Yeah but then again he's also a giant asshole and you are not." Mina told him firmly.

"As someone who's fought him multiple times I second that." Serena added. "Anyway, apparently these water stars are the only things that can completely take out his powers. I've divided them up among the team, hopefully he won't be able to track them if they're split up, and they'll be well protected."

"That's a pretty good strategy." Marik nodded approvingly. "That way if he wants them, he'll have to get past your friends. And then they can use them to fend him off! You could even use yours on the fairy girl if she gets too annoying!"

"That's the plan!" Serena beamed. "Well the first part is…" While Marik wasn't the person he used to be, she did sometimes get a little weirded out by his dark sense of humor, which Mina seemed to share.

Mina turned serious as she took a noisy sip of her soda. "But you said he's got minions doing his dirty work! Isn't he sending them to scour universes for more loot?"

"What a unique and original idea." Marik said sarcastically with a scowl.

"Don't worry, my question just got answered!" Mina had noticed the plasma TV on the opposite wall playing some kind of news footage that showed soldiers trying to fight the mutant mermaids from Tides, all wearing Baltor's tattoo.

Mina turned to her Egyptian friend. "Marik, sue something."

"I plan to." The blonde was looking at the grotesque freaks of nature with a disgusted expression. Fascinated, but still disgusted. "It's like if someone used polymerization on goblin zombie and feral imp!" He shuddered as he turned back to the table.

"Speaking of Duel monsters, would you like to have a game sometime?" Mina asked Serena, producing her own Lost Sanctuary deck from her pocket. "Marik's been giving me private lessons!"

Serena rolled her eyes. "No way Mina chan, I don't have a proper deck yet so you always beat me anyway."

Mina whacked her over the head with the cards. "TELL NO ONE!" This made them all laugh.

"Anyway here's my gift as promised!" The princess of Venus brought out a closed fist and unfurled her fingers to reveal the small object in her palm.

"Cool," Serena took a look. "But… how is it supposed to defeat Valtor?"

"It might not be one of those magic stars but trust me! I know it's something special!" Mina grinned.

"Just where did you get it anyway?"

"Oh some magic man gave it to me in Shamansburys."

**Flashback**

_Mina taps her fingers on her crossed arm in an impatient rhythm as she searched a shelf filled with an assortment of strange ingredients. The shaman in a blue turban in front of her turns around. _

_Naboo: "What's up with you?"_

_Mina: "Oh nothing, just the madness that my friend needs to catch a dark wizard and doesn't know how!"_

_The shaman puts his hand in his pocket and produces a usb memory stick with a glittering jeweled cover. "Ooh!" Mina's sky blue orbs sparkled. _

_Naboo: "Here, take this and use it as bait, you'll catch this dark wizard in no time." _

_Mina: "Alright! Thanks Naboo!" _

_With that Mina merrily goes on her way. Naboo turns back to his gorilla familiar._

_Naboo: "Alright Bollo did you get the newt legs from aisle five?"_

_Bollo: (drops the items into the cart) "What was that you gave her?" _

_Naboo: "Oh just a freebie from Dixons." _

_Bollo: (shakes his head) "I got a bad feeling about this!"_

**End flashback**

"Well it still sounds interesting," Serena smiled as she stashed it away. "Oh?" She flipped open her wrist communicator at the sight of an incoming call. "Luna!" She said in surprise at the feline face on the small round screen.

"What's up Artemis?" Mina had also opened hers.

"Serena, you've got to be very careful, the Winx are trying to find out the identity of Sailor Moon!" Luna told her urgently.

"What? Do they suspect me?"

"So far they haven't caught on about you, they don't think you could handle something this huge." Artemis said through Mina's communicator. "Nothing new there," He muttered.

"I'll crush 'em…" The blonde scowled, gripping the water star in her free hand under the table.

"Well I for one will take that as a good sign." Serena said. "Anything else I should know?"

"Not for now." Luna told her. "If they go anywhere to look for information it'll be the library and we all know how that turned out…"

"No we don't know how that turned out!" Mina and Marik instantly rounded in on Serena, who looked down with a sweatdrop. "Please don't remind me…"

**Flashback**

_Serena is running down the library in slow motion screaming wildly while fanged books bounce up and down after her. She turns around and gives an extra loud scream as a particularly large book grabs one of her pigtails in its jaws. Quick as a flash, Luna leaps out and slashes the book with her claws, forcing it to release the girl and fall several feet backwards onto the floor. _

_Luna: (turns back to Serena) Let's move!_

_Serena nods fiercely and they continue to run. However they come to a dead end and are stuck in front of a brick wall with shelves on either side. They stare in terror at the monstrous books moving in for the kill. _

_Suddenly in the corner of her eye Serena spots a huge dictionary. Grabbing it with all her might she assumes a familiar battle stance. _

_Serena: MOON BOOK ACTIOOOON!_

_She hurls it at the swarm of books in extra-slow-motion. Her and Luna grab each other with happiness as the monstrous army falls lifelessly to the ground at their feet on impact of colliding with the dictionary._

_Giddy with happiness Serena grabs the dictionary and raises it high above her head while light pours out from the window above them. _

**End flashback**

"And it was from that day on I had a whole new respect for dictionaries." Serena finished recollecting, wiping her eye with her napkin.

"Keep it together." Marik patted her arm seriously.

From his end of the communicator Artemis suddenly looked over his shoulder and pricked up his ears.

"Uh oh, it sounds like they're coming back! We'll have to say bye for now!" He said urgently.

"Ok, until next time Art!" Mina obediently ended the call while Serena did the same on hers.

"I hope that won't come back to haunt me," Serena sighed.

"Don't worry," Mina smiled reassuringly. "Artemis and Luna are on the case! And hopefully the wings clubs won't be as relentless as Marik's hate of the letter L!"

"Who said L?" Marik looked up swiftly and suspiciously.

"Remind me where this came from exactly?" Serena sweatdropped.

**Flashback**

_Marik is at his letterbox looking for new mail. Sure enough he finds a few letters addressed to 'Malik Ishtar' and one for 'Marik Ishtal' _

_Marik: (drops to his knees and yells at the sky) CURSE YOUUU Ls!_

**End flashback**

"Why isn't there a Japanese version of 'R'? It's a very common letter!" He looked down in a traumatized way.

"Keep it together." Mina said sympathetically.

000

The rest of the day seemed to pass by rather quickly but Serena was enjoying herself so much, she was too busy living in the moment to notice. She even managed to forget all about her stalkers evil and benign. Throughout the whole time Mina told her stories of her various antics since meeting up with Marik on the way to America, which she had "forgotten" to include in their last Senshi chat. Serena wondered when the Venusian would tell the others that her American doctor and some of his friends had found out her Senshi ID after she got into an accident during filming. She was still incredibly intrigued about the direction "Mina's debut" movie had taken, as when she had asked just how long it had taken to film her friend's single scene, Mina had turned to Marik with an evil grin who had replied the film was "under new management."

"Ha, Raye thought I was 'just a waitress!'" Mina had tossed her head back in a superior manner. Serena had narrowed her eyes. "You're hyping this movie up like kingdom hearts 3! I'm still waiting for the level where Sora and Kairi kiss!"

Eventually they came to the outskirts of Magix, which was on the border of a vast forest. They stood on the edge of the city, staring at the sea of trees.

"This place seems to be ticking all the boxes, there's even a magical forest!" Mina exclaimed. "I wonder if there are whimsical little animals living in it?"

"There are," Serena told her. "In fact a lot of them walk around school during the day, everyone seems to be ok with it though."

"Cool! Let's go explore!" Mina dashed forward excitedly into the wilderness. Serena and Marik shrugged and decided to follow.

"I must say the ground is a lot quieter here," Marik noted as they journeyed further through the woodland. Serena gave him a strange look.

"What are you doing now?" She exclaimed as he inspected a tree.

"Looking for pages."

"Good call!" Mina agreed, deciding to check out the trees on her right for any pieces of paper.

"Will you stop that? Slenderman wouldn't be here in Magix! Right?" Her tone became panicked, as she received no answer.

"We're just checking for signs, trust me, we do not want to come across him!" Marik shook his head with an irritated sigh. "Ugh he has to be the most annoying person/ thing I have ever had the misfortune to meet!"

Suddenly Mina and Marik looked up as they heard a loud electric guitar solo.

"Argh what a pretentious theme song!" Mina winced as she covered her ears.

"Huh?" Serena looked at her, confused.

"At least mine was subtle!" Marik frowned.

"What are we talking about?" Serena looked at the both of them one-by-one.

"Didn't you hear that?" Mina blinked.

"I heard some weird sound that sorta resembled music…" Serena scratched the back of her head.

"Well that my dear friend was a theme song!" Mina announced. "Don't worry you learn to pick them up overtime, I'll show you how to spot the signs someday!"

"I think it was in that direction!" Marik pointed to their left.

"Hold up," Serena frowned as she squinted at the distance. "Does anyone have a pair of binoculars?"

"Sure do!" Mina placed them in her hands. Raising them to her eyes Serena gasped as she recognized the large pink building in the lenses. Turning to her left she could make out a long eggplant blob making its way across the green in the school's direction.

"It must be Valtor! It looks like he's gonna attack Alfea!"

"Then we just have to make sure to get there first!" Mina grinned, pulling out her henshin stick.

000

"_I've put this off for too long," _Baltor thought as he strode determinedly towards his destination. _"It's time to fill the Agador box with so many powerful spells that no warrior, no matter how strong will have a hope of stopping me! Of course,"_ He smirked. _"If she does happen to show up, I'll still have a trick up my sleeve to weaken her! Maybe even enough to take the crystal! And then no magic spell, not even the entire collection from Alfea will compare!"_

"Not so fast!"

"Huh?" He was taken aback to see not one, but two Sailor Scouts standing before him. The new one had long golden hair and a bright orange Sailor Fuku, though unlike Sailor Moon's, she had no wings.

"And this time she's not alone! I am Sailor Venus! I stand for Love and I stand for Beauty!" The second blonde struck a similar pose. "And I hear you've been harassing my dear friend here, which I say won't stand, as V is for Vendetta!"

"V-chan!" Moon gasped. Instead of her family-friendly V for Victory signal, the red-ribboned Senshi had switched it for a gesture that needed only one finger.

"He had it coming." Was the simple response.

"Ok, I know the drill," Sailor Moon sighed, brandishing her scepter. "MOON GORGEOUS MEDITATION!" She set out an attack towards the wizard.

"Sorry Sailor Moon, but today is the day your luck will run out!" Baltor produced a menacing looking orb of magic. "After tampering with what I took from Oppositus I should be able to take you down!"

"Wha- no! I can't call off my attack!" Sailor Moon panicked.

"OPPOSITUS!" Upon flinging the orb into the air, the beam of light was instantly deflected back at the Senshi, who, having no time to shield herself, was flung backwards onto the ground with a scream.

"Sailor Moon!" Venus cried, her eyes large with anxiety.

"At last, I can take the crown jewel to my collection," Baltor moved toward the group.

"You're not going anywhere near her! You sit your ass down!" Venus ordered, promptly blasting Baltor into the dirt with a crescent beam.

"Marik, you've gotta get Sailor Moon out of here!" She turned around to say.

Marik nodded quickly and led Serena away.

Venus turned back to her new foe with a glare and cracked her knuckles. "I'll deal with Vampy!"

000

On the verge of the forest Marik was busy checking Sailor Moon for any damage. "How do you feel?"

"I feel lightheaded," Was the faint reply, as she did all she could to stay conscious.

"Hmm." The Millenium Rod glowed as he checked her mind for any brain damage. "It's a good thing that attack was made of positive energy, you can just absorb it back, right?"

"Right, oh there it is," Serena said off handedly as the white streams of energy swirled around her crystal. "Whoa, headrush!" She exclaimed, shaking her head as she tried to stand on her own.

"Are you sure you'll be ok?" Marik still wasn't convinced.

"I've jumped off a giant floating circus and leapt into a piece of Chaos itself. I should be able to walk it off!" Moon determinedly straightened her posture.

_FLASH!_

A burst of magenta lightning burst from the sky towards them. Fortunately Marik was able to yank Moon out of the line of fire just in time.

"Looks like you're not so tough anymore Sailor Moon!" Stormy materialized in front of them with a sadistic grin, a small tornado dancing above her palm. Marik shuddered at her unhinged expression.

Sailor Moon stood there, staring at her enemy with wide eyes from under her mask. Stormy charged up her attack.

"TWISTER FUR…"

"Oh no you don't! I summon Revival jam!" In an instant Marik held up one of his cards and a monster made out of blue slime materialized in front of them, and exploded into a sticky mess as it took the blow. Sailor Moon heaved a sigh of relief as it quickly reformed itself back to its original shape.

"LIGHTNING BOLT!" Stormy produced another attack as quick as a flash and flung it at Sailor Moon, who negated it with a silver blast of her own magic. Hoping that she finally had a clear shot Moon brandished her scepter.

"MOON GORGEOUS MEDI-"

"TORNADO FORCE!"

Unfortunately Stormy was too quick for her and sent a tempest her way at lightning speed. Moon cried out as she collided with the ground.

"Right that's it!" Marik scowled as he produced the Millenium Rod. In the same motion he held it out in front Stormy before she could attack Sailor Moon again and focused its power. Slowly but surely the eye of Wadjet flickered onto Stormy's forehead, however it was extremely weak, and was on the verge of disappearing. Marik's eyes widened in shock.

"What's wrong?" Sailor Moon had noticed this.

"Something's trying to block her mind from me!" Marik told her. "It's as if there's another dark force already trying to possess her!"

"That must be the piece of Chaos," Moon whispered.

"GET OUT OF MY BRAIN!" Stormy yelled furiously, finally shaking off the Egyptian mind control. "ELECTRIC SPARKS!"

Fortunately Moon was able to conjure up a force field in the knick of time, shielding the two of them from the attack.

"This is exactly what I was talking about!" Moon complained. "I don't particularly want a fight, but I'm too busy dodging to use my healing powers!"

Marik looked from her to their opponent. _"Hold on, I've got an idea."_ He sent a telepathic message so that their opponent couldn't hear it. _"But you're going to have to lose the shield."_

"Huh?" Moon exclaimed.

"_Once you drop the shield I'll hold her off attacking you with the Millenium Rod, I won't be able to have control for very long but it should give you enough time to get your crystal ready!" _

Moon nodded as hard as she could while still maintaining the shield to show she understood.

"_Alright, let's do this!"_

"_We'll do it on the count of three! One…two…_THREE!"

As soon as Moon disintegrated the shield Marik immediately activated the Millenium Rod, freezing Stormy where she stood and ceasing the lightning bolts.

"Argh! What is this?!" She furiously struggled against the shadowy magic binding her in her place.

"Sailor Moon do it now!" Marik shouted.

"Yes." Sailor Moon closed her eyes and focused on radiating her positive energy in Stormy's direction.

"I won't fight you Stormy," She began. "I don't believe someone would use this much force unless there was something they wanted. What is it you're after?"

"Your blood Sailor Moon," Stormy snarled. "You killed Darcy and now I'll make you pay!"

At this Marik couldn't help but stiffen slightly. This story was starting to get a little too familiar for him.

"What?" Sailor Moon gasped. "No! I didn't kill her! I can take you to see her if you want!" She tried to strengthen her aura to show she told the truth.

"That's a lie," The witch's head was bent low so her bangs shielded her face.

"Sailor Moon," Marik looked at Moon warningly as the shadow bindings were starting to tremble. "I don't think I can hold…"

"THAT'S A LIE!" Stormy screeched as she broke free.

"Whoa," Both Moon and Marik gasped at the dark cloud of shadows that swirled out behind her as her eyes became two red pupil-less pools.

"_So this is the sap that beat Lysslis?!"_ The shadow remarked. _"Well it just goes to show that the older siblings aren't always the strongest! I, Tharma of the Ancestresses will destroy you and your friend, Sailor girl!"_

"Oh shit." They said in unison.

000

"Huh?" Mina looked over her shoulder in alarm at the large force field of darkness that had materialized behind her.

"_That's in the direction that Serena and Marik went!"_ She realized. She began to run towards it but a rope of thick black magic coiled around her arm and yanked her backwards, forcing her to stop.

"What fresh hell-" She gasped at the dark energy surrounding Baltor as he gripped the rope that ensnared her. She didn't need to sense auras to see that this new negative power was somehow giving him a boost.

Without warning he fired another stream of dark magic in her direction, which she only just managed to miss. Her eyes widened as she saw a couple of long blonde hairs fall from the side of her head. The numb feeling in her arm told her that Baltor was trying to drain her energy.

"_Sorry guys, but it looks like it's up to you to vanquish the evil in there,"_ She thought, taking up a battle stance. "But don't worry," She scowled at her opponent. _"I'll take on the evil out here!"_

000

"This is just like what happened last time!" Sailor Moon managed to say, staring at the dark energy barrier that surrounded them.

"Seems just like a shadow game," Marik half-heartedly attempted to smile.

"Yeah," Sailor Moon gave a nervous giggle, before suddenly getting an idea. "Hey, you have shadow magic! Do you think you could get some pull on this stuff?"

"I'll see what I can do," He closed his eyes as he focused his mind. Sure enough, a few of the shadows nearest to him swayed from side to side in a calming manner.

"_YOU ARE SO DEAD SAILOR MOON!"_ Stormy/Tharma roared as she fired a huge blast of lighting in their direction.

"Revival jam!" Marik hastily summoned the slimy creature again to absorb the blow. As he could still feel the impact of the attack due to his connection with the creature, he bent over in pain.

"We can't keep relying on that!" Moon cried anxiously as she quickly healed him with the Silver Crystal. "It'll keep weakening you every time!"

"I've had worse! And it's not like we have a lot of options now, is it?" He gestured to the powered-up Stormy, who was getting ready to fire her next blow.

"_DARKSTORM ATTACK!"_

Moon determinedly summoned a white force field but the attack was too strong and sent them crashing to the ground.

"I'm sorry I got you dragged into this mess!" Moon wailed as she tried to conjure another barrier.

"What are friends for, eh?" He said as Revival jam shielded them once more.

000

"SAILOR V KICK!" Sailor Venus ran up kicked Baltor right in the face, making him lose concentration and disintegrate the rope binding her arm. He fell backwards into a tree as she gracefully leapt back so that she was a good distance away.

"Aargh!" He looked up angrily and she was pleased to see that half of his unhealthily pale face was darkened with the mark of her shoe.

"No one hits me while my back is turned and nobody but nobody stops me from helping my friends! Let's see how you like it - VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE!" Sailor Venus wasted no time in unleashing one of her favourite tricks, a strong rope made of tiny golden hearts that promptly wrapped itself around the dark wizard, tying him to the tree.

He tried to break out using various incantations from goodness knows how many realms but the chain would not budge.

"Finally I can use this thing!" Smirking victoriously, Sailor Venus held her new golden gift up high.

"TASTE THE WATER STAR YOU SON OF A BIRCH!"

000

"Wait, what's that?" From inside the barrier Sailor Moon and Marik looked up. They saw a golden light shining somewhere outside the barrier. Moon closed her eyes, she could sense that it was Venus enhancing her power. She also felt a surge of energy pulsing around her wrists. She held out her arms to see that the silver Galactic bracelets were glowing!

Silently she moved her hands to her chest and held them on either side of her brooch.

Feeling a similar sensation Marik realized that the eye of Wadjet was also glowing atop the Millenium Rod. He turned to the Moon Princess.

"Sailor Moon, your bracelets seem to be boosting all our powers!"

"Huh?" Sailor Moon looked down at the accessories. It certainly felt that way.

"_What's this?!"_ The possessed witch gave a confused scowl at the sight of the enemy magic strengthening.

"_Marik,"_ Sailor Moon thought, knowing he could hear. _"I think that together if we converge our mind wave power, we can negate the anger energy!"_

"_Seriously, how can you not be a duelist?"_

Both of them held their weapons out in front. Sure enough waves of gold and silver energy began to radiate from the two of them and surrounded the space within the barrier.

"Stormy please, you don't have to follow the path of destruction,"

"Listen to Sailor Moon, she knows what she's talking about!" Marik added.

For a moment Stormy's eyes reverted back to their natural green, before quickly changing back to red as she shook her head.

"There's- there's no way-"

"Yes there is." Moon said firmly. "As long as you're still alive there is always hope. I said the same thing to Darcy when I met with her."

"But- but Darcy's dead!"

"No she isn't, she chose to escape the cruel destiny that tried to trap her and you can do the same!"

"She's… still alive?" Slowly but surely her eyes regained their original emerald colouring as a few tears began to form. "I don't wanna hear this!" Her hands gripped the sides of her head to cover her ears.

"_What are you doing? Fight them you fool!"_ Tharma screeched at her inside her mind.

"_I- I don't know who to listen to-"_

"_DESTROY THEM NOW!"_

"_I feel so-"_

Sensing this inner turmoil, Marik suddenly saw an opportunity to strike.

"Dark Spirit! Separate from her!" The mind waves from the Millenium Rod became stronger as he directed it above her at Tharma. The spirit shrieked in agony as it was forced apart from its descendant.

"SILVER MOON CRYSTAL POWER!" Sailor Moon released one of her strongest attacks in the direction of the destructive entity.

"_Aaaagh!"_ As soon as the Ancestress was vaporized and the barrier disintegrated, Moon immediately strode over to Stormy, who was now sitting on a nearby rock with her head bent.

"Stormy," She began quietly.

"Don't come near me."

"Storm-"

"I SAID DON'T COME NEAR ME!" The witch yelled jerking her head up sharply, her face trailed with angry tears.

Aside from taking a small step back however, Moon did not move or speak; only looking at her calmly, as if saving her opinion for after the frizzy haired girl had vented her emotions. However, to her surprise, Stormy didn't say another word, she merely stood up, staggering slightly as she did so, and raised one hand into the air, creating a portal with one blast.

"No!" Sailor Moon held out her arm to try and stop her but it was too late, Stormy had already jumped into the portal and it dissolved in an instant.

"No," Sailor Moon looked at the ground as she fell to her knees. "I can't believe I failed again!"

Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up to see Marik standing behind her.

"It's not over yet," He helped her up. "She'll definitely be back sooner or later!"

"I know," Serena detransformed. "And I know that she won't rest until I'm fried toast but," She gave a shaky laugh. "I don't want to kill if I don't have to! Even though she wants to take me down, I know she's not just doing all this for no reason, she blames me for…" She was cut off as Marik grabbed her by the shoulders.

"It's your kind of thinking that helps people choose the light rather than the dark, so don't you ever stop trying, ok?"

Serena gave a small nod as she took in the words.

"She's just confused and needs time to take it in. She's been told you were responsible for something you didn't do but you and I know that's not the case. You just have to show her the truth…"

Marik turned away. He knew all too well the feeling of seeking revenge when it turned out the full story hadn't been told.

"Thank you," Serena took his hand. She understood what he had meant.

The bright explosion of gold magic behind them made them turn around.

"We should help her out." Marik said.

"Be my guest, I'm too wacked out!" Serena gave a wink. "I know you guys'll be ok!"

000

"Hey Venus! You can't fight him anymore!" They looked up to see an unknown man hidden in a shadowy purple cloak.

"Why ever not?!" Venus asked indignantly.

"Because I want to have a go! FELGRAND DRAGON ATTACK!" Marik summoned a huge golden dragon from his card that promptly set the tree on fire. When the smoke parted they saw the wizard lying in a deep crater of mud.

"Ok now can I finish him off?" Venus was still itching to end it once and for all so her BFF wouldn't be stuck in this world of sparkly pink schools. But before she could do anything Baltor activated a disapparat spell.

"You… haven't… seen… the last … of me!" He growled with great difficulty, holding onto his broken ribs as he teleported away.

"Coward! Get back and fight like a man!" Sailor Venus scowled at the spot where he had been seconds ago.

Marik turned to his golden Duel Monster that was still standing beside him and petted its pointy snout.

"Ok funs over, back to my hand!"

The dragon bowed its head before disappearing back into his card.

"Nice move!" Mina cheered after detransforming. There was a silence for a moment as they stared at each other, waiting for the other to say something.

However, before any words could be spoken she ran up and gave him a tight hug.

"What was that for?" He couldn't help asking but returned it nonetheless.

"Nothing," A few tears formed in her eyes but she shook them away with a smile.

"Ok lovebirds, I've given you enough time!" They broke apart to see Serena chuckling.

"Oh, you took on that chaos huh? Good going girl, I knew you could do it!" Mina smiled encouragingly.

"…Not quite. But I'll finish the business when the time comes!" Serena nodded. She looked at them sadly. "But I guess I gotta get back to, ugh, school…"

"Hold it!" Mina leapt in front of her with her arms spread wide. "The day's not over yet! We still have full custody of you!"

"And I know just how to get out of here!" Producing his deck Marik re-summoned Felgrand dragon and hopped onto its back. Mina followed instantly and, after a tentative stare, Serena had allowed them to help her on.

"So where to next guys?" Serena asked as the dragon rode off into the sunset.

"To infinity and Beyon…" Mina began but Serena cut her off.

"You had to go there didn't you?" She deadpanned.

"Actually it works this time!" Marik admitted.

It turned out that Mina was talking about a funky new club called "Infinity" that had just opened somewhere in America that Serena didn't have time to find out. It was an awesome place with midnight blue ceiling and sparkly silver furniture. Everyone there was dressed up but thanks to their disguise pen and scrunchie, Serena and Mina were able to fit right in (Marik argued that his outfit was already awesome, but he put on some of the temporary hair streaks he got from Magix).

It was now 3AM and the blonde Senshi duo had finally arrived at Alfea and were standing outside the magical green barrier. Marik had decided to stay behind at wherever he and Mina had been staying to look after the various items they had purchased from Magix that day while Mina retrieved Artemis.

"Ugh, my head," Serena moaned, wobbling slightly where she stood. "I'll have a killer hangover in the daytime!"

"But how? You said you didn't want anything alcoholic," Mina turned to her with a frown.

"I've had my fair share of hangovers and this feels like the same thing!" Serena retorted weakly. She fumbled in her jacket pocket for her henshin brooch. "Now I just gotta blast a hole in this- BLLEAAARRGH!"

Mina jumped back as she bent over and threw up over the grass in front of her. She bent down to hold Serena's hair back.

"It's ok Moonie, V chan will blast the green force field open for you!" She said soothingly, rubbing her back. She got up and pointed her finger.

"Spirit gun!" She whisper-shouted as a stream of thin gold energy shot from her finger and penetrated the barrier, leaving a Senshi-sized hole in its wake.

"Really?" Serena whispered after she finished wiping her face with a tissue she had conjured.

"I had to!" Mina whispered with a shrug. She stepped through the hole and helped Serena through after her.

FLASH! They had to cover their eyes as green neon lights suddenly lit up around the barrier. The shadowy figure of Griselda strode threateningly into the spotlight.

"What were you doing out so late girls?"

Serena stood, frozen to the spot. Mina clenched her fists holding in the million things that she wanted to say. Then she couldn't take it anymore.

"Double frick on a stick!"

She knew when she'd been busted.


	20. A gulp of fresh air

**Hi Guys, first off I'm so sorry for the wait of this chapter as I've had various things going on. But I'm afraid the next update won't be for a while as I've got a big move ahead of me. To all of you reading I thank you so much for your support and patience, rest assured this story will be completed one day!**

How they got past the night hurdle Serena never knew but when she finally awoke from her slumber she found herself staring into a pair of unamused brown eyes.

"Serena wake up!" Luna finally spoke.

The only sign of life Serena made was a non-coherent noise that sounded like a quiet growl as she tried to shift herself, although the attempt was unsuccessful.

"Sorry Luna I think I've been paralyzed." She whispered. Luna merely raised an eyebrow. "Try looking up!"

"Oh," Serena blearily acknowledged a snoring Mina spread out like a starfish right on top of her. "Dammit Mina I'm in a relationship!" She shoved her off. "Owie!" The blonde yelled as she woke up.

"What time is it anyway Luna?" Serena gave a huge yawn.

Luna narrowed her eyes. "It's 1 in the afternoon. Just what time did you two get in last night?"

"Ask her, I was too busy puking to know!" Serena pointed at Mina.

"Hey don't look at me! I was blasting the green bubble thingy to get us in!"

Artemis sighed. "Anyway, I don't know how, but even after your little stunt yesterday Mina, the winx are still keen to make sure Serena doesn't set foot outside Alfea without them!"

"What?! You mean it didn't work?!" Mina exclaimed in disbelief. "The plan was foolproof! Maybe if the Headmistress talks to them it'll kick in…"

"That's not the point! I know it's a great thing that two of the Sailor Scouts are united even if its temporary, but its more important than ever that you don't talk about your powers out in the open!" The white Mau finished.

"What makes you think we will?" Serena said, slightly insulted.

The two cats and Mina looked at Serena's grey pajama t-shirt that read, "I'm the fucking Moon Princess" in bright pink letters.

"I better go change." She sweatdropped.

000

Fortunately Serena had found some plain clothing just in time as the winx hurried into the bedroom.

"Serena where have you been? You didn't come back last night!" Bloom exclaimed going over to her.

"Yeah, about that," Serena rubbed the back of her neck as she giggled. "It got preeetty crazy! Best day and night in a long time though!"

"S'Rina havuseen my…" At that point Mina stumbled out of the bathroom, her mouthful of toothpaste and water and Serena's pink toothbrush clamped between her jaws.

"- Mina you look like your frothing at the mouth." Serena deadpanned, levitating a pink plastic beaker towards her friend.

"Oh, right." Mina bent down and spat the mixture into the cup. Serena finally noticed the Winx staring at her, waiting for an explanation.

"Oh yeah, everyone this is Mina. Mina these are the fairies, get along children." Serena swung her arms as she gestured to the respective sides. Mina was still busy gargling the minty water to reply.

"Cool, I'm Musa!"

"My name's Flora!"

"My name is Layla."

"And I'm Stella!"

"And I'm Bloom!"

Everyone was taken aback as Mina glowered at Bloom. "You," She growled.

"Mina w…" Serena began but was hastily cut off as she tried to restrain Mina from launching herself at the unfortunate fairy.

"Be right back?" She squeaked with a sweatdrop as she hauled Mina into the bathroom.

"Mina chan we talked about this!" She wailed once they were inside the confined space.

"That was yesterday!" Mina shrieked. "And the promise was no Mina&_Marik _style revenge and Marik's not here!"

Suddenly Serena had just the thing to snap her out of it. "What would he say if he found out you took your revenge already?"

"Yeah, you're right. The big scale plan will have to wait," Serena gave a sigh of relief as Mina's shoulders drooped. "But," She looked up with a wink. "Whose to say I can't pull some little pranks in the meantime?"

"Fine." Serena had long learned to compromise with her. "Ohh," She had to grab the sink to stop herself keeling over as she felt a sickening sensation in her stomach. "Feel icky." She said in a small voice.

"Here!" Mina guided her to the toilet and gently held back her hair as Serena brought out more of yesterday's food.

"Thanks V," Serena smiled gratefully once she was done.

"Don't mention it! After all you helped me out when I…"

"-No Mina." Serena quickly interrupted before they could remember the incident. "That is something we both promised never to mention!"

000

To Mina's disappointment the winx were still there waiting for her in the bedroom.

"S'ok, she doesn't bite anymore," Serena said emotionlessly as she leant against the Venusian for support.

"Serena, are you alright?" Flora had noticed the girl's green pallet.

"Serena has a bit of a hangover." Mina cut in. "She'll walk it off!"

"I still don't get how that works if I didn't drink…" Serena began but Mina shushed her.

Suddenly the doors swung open to reveal a very angry Griselda.

"I hope you're pleased with yourselves girls because your little stunt will cost you dearly! You broke your curfew when you know you're in danger!" She pointed at Serena. "And you!" She rounded in on Mina. "You don't even go to this school! Care to explain yourself?!"

"Gladly! I am one of the most-"

"You two are going to the Headmistress's office right now! I expect to see you there in two minutes!" The teacher turned her back and left the room.

"I was in mid sentence!" Mina shrieked indignantly. "Oh well, best get this over with," She shrugged and started to tow Serena by the sleeve towards the door humming a catchy tune.

"Is she for real?" Musa couldn't help but say as the six fairies stared at her retreating form.

"She's even crazier than Serena!"

"Nice shoes though…" Stella said, twirling a strand of her hair. "I wonder if she'd let me borrow them…"

000

Upon entering the office both Senshi found Faragonda reading some scrolls.

"Oh well if she's busy, she's busy." Mina shrugged and turned to go.

"Not so fast!" Griselda immediately leapt in front of the door, blocking the exit. "As punishment for breaking curfew and vandalizing school property Ms Faragonda will be grounding you and diluting your powers!" She smirked.

"That will not be necessary Griselda! I am sure that they have learned their lesson and I can trust they will not do it again." Faragonda replied, Serena noticed she didn't miss a beat nor did she look up from what she was doing. "You may go girls."

"Well we heard the woman! Better do as she says!" Mina cheerfully lead Serena towards the exit, her grin widening as they passed Griselda.

"But aren't you going to punish then a tiny bit?" They heard Griselda plead as they shut the door behind them.

"Yikes!" Mina almost leapt a foot in the air to find out that the winx had followed them and had been standing outside the office.

"So what was the damage?" Musa asked.

"That there was no damage." Serena replied, still confused by what had just happened.

"Yup! We're free as birds! No criminal records for me in this dimension!" Mina grinned, showing her sharp shiny teeth.

"Wait Ms Faragonda didn't ground you again?" Bloom stared at her in amazement.

"Yeah, that's what I'd like to know." Serena turned to Mina, who merely turned her head to the side with a shifty smile.

**Flashback**

_Mina and Marik are in Faragonda's office waiting for Serena to meet them. They are celebrating their latest prank._

_Mina: That was classic! But what if the old lady wants to put the restrictions back on Serena after our visit?_

_Marik: I already took care of that! If it so happens that Serena does something outrageous, I've put the idea of erasing the house arrest permanently in Faragonda's mind so she won't think of doing it again. You can thank me later._

**End flashback**

"I'll tell ya later!" Mina whispered to Serena, still grinning at the foolproof plan as she draped an arm around her friend. "Soo you don't have school today, might as well stick around for a bit! Well, I'd stick around even if you did have school…"

"Did you wanna go shopping again?" Serena asked.

"Nah, I feel as if I ticked all those boxes yesterday…" Mina turned to the winx. "What'd you do for fun round here?"

"Well we were going to go to Magix to meet the guys, would you like to come?" Flora offered.

"You know, get new outfits, go to a funky club, the usual!" Stella added.

"Wait," Mina looked suspicious. "You mean you and me in a place full of drinks and noisy music?"

"Uh, yeah." Bloom said.

Mina's sky blue orbs sparkled with excitement. "Then hell yeah we're doing this! It'll be fun won't it Serena?"

Serena looked suspicious. "What's going on Mina? You said you satisfied yourself shopping and partying-wise yesterday!"

"Oh yeah I know nothing could top last night believe you me!" Mina waved it off with a wink. "But today will satisfy my mind-messing skills!"

"Oh boy," Serena rolled her eyes as she followed her friend. Those fairies really didn't know what was coming.

000

Icy was pissed. She had one of her worst headaches and no amount of magical medicine would make it go away. Sighing heavily as she placed a huge block of ice against her forehead her memory wandered back to the events that had passed in the previous week, no matter how many times she tried to stop it. Darcy was gone, and come to think of it she hadn't seen Stormy since the failed attempt to jump the winx at the Red Tower. Hissing angrily she picked up a small ice cube in her free hand and crushed it in her fist. Sure she was the oldest sister, but that didn't mean they were her responsibility! They were independent young women now and they had stressed time and time again that they made their own decisions. So why did she feel this nasty sensation in the pit of her stomach every time she thought about them?

Once the daily nauseous wave had finally passed she decided to stretch her legs. Maybe Baltor did have something good in his spell library that would help them catch that pesky Sailor Moon and intercept the Silver Crystal.

However when she came to the main cave room she stopped in her tracks. Baltor was sitting on what he had designated his "throne" clutching the Agador box. But today his posture was bent, strands of his strawberry blonde hair hung limply over his face and his eyes were squeezed shut, as if he was finding it difficult to breathe. He looked defeated, almost broken; Icy had certainly never seen him like this before. Her curiosity got the best of her and she silently walked into the large space to get a closer look.

"Baltor, why are you sitting there like that?" She asked cautiously.

"Hmmph!" Baltor sat up with a start, for a brief moment he seemed back to his cruel, control-freak self; but on closer inspection his face was sickly pale and Icy could see that he was sporting a black eye.

"Sailor Moon is what's upsetting me Icy!" He snapped impatiently, wheezing slightly as he did so. "It turns out she has allies of her own!"

"_Judging by how you look right now, I'd say you ran into some of them!"_ Icy couldn't help thinking. She hoped he hadn't learnt how to read minds.

"Look at how easily she beat you on Solaria, Mermaid and the Golden Kingdom!" Baltor ranted on, oblivious. He looked to the cave wall with a dull depressed realization in his eyes. "And now they have the water stars. It's happening just like what Faragonda and the others did seventeen years ago!"

"What's happening?" Icy raised an eyebrow.

"It's like she has her own company of light! And my spells won't be powerful enough to finish her off!" He shrank back into his chair as he gripped the golden box tighter in a possessive manner.

"You're whining!" Icy exclaimed in disgust. Seeing him cower in his seat at that moment, she thought he looked truly pathetic. She started to wonder, just what did she ever see in him? Wasn't the whole reason she unfroze him in Omega to make a distraction for the Ice Snakes? Just how did she and her sisters end up serving this guy? If she'd known he was going to have his tail between his legs after one fight- and with a teenage girl, she'd have rethought the whole escape plan from the beginning- she had lost at least one sister because of him!

"You're right, I should spell myself into oblivion for this," Baltor sighed pitifully.

Suddenly Icy's eyes narrowed as a realization hit her like a sharp icicle. He was showing signs of weakness; a time that she had been taught was the perfect opportunity to strike!

"No," She said coldly, assuming a battle stance as a large pointy ice dagger appeared in each hand. "I will."

As quick as she could she fired one in his direction, but to her horror he caught it, just before it could make contact with his face and disintegrated it into powder.

She stood there in shock at what had just happened for a second, her mouth open. Then she tried her best to launch her second ice spear.

Unfortunately she wasn't fast enough. Baltor silently fired a purple blast that hit her squarely in the chest and sent her hurling straight into the wall. She hit the hard surface immediately and fell to the ground unconscious, a drop of blood dripping down the side of her head.

Baltor strode over to her lifeless form, limping as he did so and holding his ribcage with one hand.

"Silly witch," He shook his head with a chuckle as he bent down with a wince. "Imagine me, Baltor, afraid? That's not only preposterous but even the thought of it is disrespectful! And something you will have to be severely punished for!"

000

As they strolled out the school to await their transport Serena could see that Mina somehow wasn't being her usual friendly self. Not to her, on the contrary, her deputy Senshi was making an extra special fuss of her every chance she took, something Serena welcomed. But even so she could still sense that Mina's aura seemed to be directing a kind of hostility towards the fairies in their company.

"So what you're saying is that there's a school full of magical people yet only six of you could take on this great decaying army?" Mina was still trying to process what Bloom had just told her. There wasn't anything wrong with a team fighting evil, as she and the Sailor Scouts had protected their universe many times. However on earth no one had the power they held and were unable to defend themselves, here there was a whole world of people using magic, and they left students to do the dirty work? She was seriously starting to question the system around here!

"Pretty much!" Stella shrugged. "And then in our sophomore year we beat Lord Darkar who also wanted to take over the world."

"Of course!" Mina shouted in a loud commanding voice, making them look oddly at her. Serena merely sighed, she was used to this kind of behaviour.

"… Anyway, the witches who summoned the army of decay teamed up with him!" Tecna decided to continue.

"And now they've teamed up with Baltor!" Musa added. "Trust me those three are the worst of the worst!"

"Icy Darcy and Stormy right?" Mina almost yawned.

"Hold on," Flora paused. "I wonder why we didn't see Darcy when we went to the Red tower."

"Oh she was probably gearing up to jump us from behind!" Stella said dismissively.

"Well I can't wait for the day we finish them off for good! Along with Baltor!" Bloom's eyes narrowed in a way that Serena couldn't help thinking was a little too vindictive for someone who preached good morals.

"Hmm." Mina briefly flashed her a look. Serena was extremely grateful that no one knew about the incident with Darcy and the witch's current whereabouts. But at least she didn't have to worry about it with Raye controlling the situation. But she was bothered by what had gone down with Stormy the previous day, was she still out there searching for Sailor Moon? Or had she finally been able to let go of her negativity? Serena remembered Marik isolating the piece of chaos from its host for her to vanquish, she knew she couldn't have managed such a feat on her own. In fact, come to think of it, if Glim hadn't given her a power boost, how would she have been able to save Darcy?

"It's here!"

"Huh?" The whooshing sound of the Hover bus snapped her out of her thoughts and she looked up to see the Winx and Mina standing by the entrance.

"Gotta keep the peace." She muttered before going over to join them.

"I think me and Mina will take those seats over there." Serena pointed to two secluded spaces in the corner of the coach. "You know we got some best buds catching up to do!"

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Mina grinned and hastily followed her before anyone could say otherwise.

"Now you see what I have to put up with?" Serena pointed at the group in front of them once the two blondes were safely in their seat.

"I don't like her Serena." Mina glared in Bloom's direction. "I know I've only met her for a few minutes but I already can't stand her! She's always putting you down, and she sounds like my old angel guardian!"

"Your what now?" Serena was officially confused.

"My angel guardian! Even though orange one has stolen her voice I liked her, I shipped her with my devil guardian!"

**Flashback**

_An angel with long blonde hair and blue feathery wings is floating in the air on the right in front of Mina. A devil boy in a red and black outfit is smirking from Mina's other side. Mina watches them as they argue with each other over who will win in persuading her that their way is the best. She can't help noticing the angel's blush and the Devil's over confident disposition. _

_Mina: Hey you two should kiss!_

_They quickly cease their argument and stare at her in amazement. _

_Raf: Wait you can see us?!_

_Mina: Uh yeah, divine Venusian powers and all!_

_Raf: But there's a veto…_

_Mina: No buts! You two are made for each other! Besides you can touch each other when you have your human forms!_

_The angel and devil both blush and look at each other._

_Sulfus: Well if our Earthly one says…_

_Raf: (blushes) Fine! (turns to Mina) But only if you eat your vegetables for the rest of the week so I can get a good grade!_

_Sulfus: Hey! How am I supposed to get a good mark?_

_Mina: Ok ok, how 'bout I eat my veggies and skip school for the whole week?_

_Raf and Sulfus: Deal!_

_As Sailor V Mina uses some of her divine Venusian powers and a lot of legal blackmail to get the angel and devil leaders to get rid of the veto. Raf and Sulfus dated for a long time and decided to spend their lives together on Earth. Mina is still in contact with them. _

**End flashback**

"Even back then I was still quite the love expert!" Mina sighed happily. "No veto against touching each other stands a chance as long as I'm around!"

"Wow, that totally didn't sound wrong at all." Serena said sarcastically as she stared at her in a bewildered manner.

"But back to business." Mina waved her hands. "I've just got to get my payback! The first fairy to put one toe out of line is gonna be a goner!" She gave an evil smile in realization. "If its Bloom I've still got that water star you gave me…"

"Mina no!" Serena was horrified. "How could you think of doing such a thing? I know you'd never cross the line like that!"

Mina sighed sadly. "You're right, you're right. It's just…" She looked at the chattering group ahead of her. "Look around Serena. You've given so many people better lives and I bet you don't even think twice about it! Even though I was the accomplished crime fighter Sailor V, I still didn't have many friends- not ones who knew the real me. And you know what my mom's like," She gave a small laugh. "I was often pretty lonely. And then when you accepted me into the group it felt like what I'd been doing had meant something. It's funny, whenever you talk about Sailor V, it makes me feel special." She smiled, turning back to Serena.

"And I know I'm not the only one. Ami Raye and Lita- they had to spend a lot of their time alone until they met you. And now we're the happiest we've ever been, because we've found someone to support our dreams and to hold us together. And I haven't even gotten started on the numbers of enemies you've lead us to defeat to ensure the cosmos stays at peace!" She clenched her fists as a tear ran down her cheek. "That's why, when I hear them talking like that about you, like you're nothing, it makes me so _angry_."

"Oh Mina chan," Serena put her arm around her. "Just you being my friend is enough! I'm really not bothered by what they think, 'cause I know I've already got the most important people I need! And hopefully when this stupid battle is over I can go home and we can hang out and watch your movie and all the others you make in the future!"

"I'd like that." Mina said softly, resting her head on Serena's shoulder. "And then you'll be married and I'll be maid of honour!"

"Uh huh! And then we'll all rule the universe together!"

"Of course."

A few minutes later when the bus came to a halt in the high street Stella was the first to zoom out.

"Shopping!" She exclaimed, raising her hands in the air.

"Is shopping all you think about Stella?" Layla couldn't help rolling her eyes.

"Well excuse me if we're not all tomboys like you!" Stella shot back.

"Can't people be both?" Mina raised her eyebrows.

"Huh?" The two fairy princesses looked at her.

"She does have a point." Serena said, after all Mina herself was living proof of that.

000

A good couple of hours later the two blonde Senshi were tailing the winx, who were now wearing completely different outfits, down the sidewalk. Since Mina had produced her phone, her and Serena each were each holding an earphone to one of their ears and were listening to music as they walked.

"You know, I'm impressed Mina chan!" Serena looked to her friend approvingly. "We went through all those shops and you didn't try any funny business!"

"_Wake me up in San Francisco,"_ Mina was singing softly before looking up at the mention of her name. "Huh? Oh that's what you think!" She rubbed her palms together with a devilish grin. Serena sweatdropped.

**Flashback**

_Bloom and Stella are using the virtual dressers. Serena and Mina stand on the side to guard their handbags. While Serena is busy calling Darien, Mina gets out Stella's phone. As quick as a flash she copies down all the winx's numbers and some of their contacts before stashing the device back where she found it. Serena ends her call and turns to see Mina inspecting a nearby clothes rack with a cheesy grin. Bloom and Stella rejoin them._

_Stella: (looking at the garishly fake furry jacket Mina is holding) Hmm were you planning on getting that? I was thinking of getting one in pink! Then we'd look like twins!_

_Mina: …Nah, I don't think so! How would I go running in it?_

_She walks out the shop with Serena in tow._

**End flashback**

"I'm not gonna lie, I think that Stella girl's after my style!" Mina remarked. "I can't have that, if I'm going to be an idol, the V-look has to be one of a kind!" She went back to singing one of her new favourite songs she had danced to in the Infinity club the previous night. Since she knew her so well Serena wasn't amazed that her friend could still be full of beans after a night of partying.

"Don't worry Layla," Flora was saying to the princess of Tides. "We won't leave you alone tonight, I promise!"

"That's ok Flora," Layla said. "I invited Ophir! We kinda grew close when we were fighting together in the Golden Kingdom!"

"Did someone say they were growing close with someone?" Serena gave a small chuckle as Mina immediately pricked her ears.

"Layla and Ophir, Ophir and Layla!" Stella was linking the names.

"Yeah, but I'm still not sure if he really like likes me!" Layla looked embarrassed.

"Oh he like liked you from the moment he met you!" Bloom smirked knowingly. She turned to the Moon Princess. "Right Serena?"

"Uh huh!" Serena nodded as they neared the club. "I told you he was a good guy!" She was glad that Layla had possibly found someone.

"Ooh if only I knew who he was I could offer my expert advice!" Mina clenched her fists crossly.

As the specialists walked out from the club to greet their girlfriends Serena watched with a small smile. The distance between her and Darien didn't hurt so much anymore, especially after she'd had the chance to see him once more. Then again, it would be fun to see the specialists realize they couldn't hold a candle to her guy's amount of cool.

"Ok, just sending," Mina looked up from her phone, having been engrossed in writing a text. "What's happening now?"

"Mina these are the fairies boyfriends." Serena told her.

"I gotcha! Ooh I'm guessing the dude with long flowing hair is with Flora, they'd be cute! Oh and the nerd guy goes with pinky, nerds united right? But wait, I think there's only five of them," Mina was matching them up. "I thought for sure Orange one would have a guy to show off in front of others!"

"She's with the blonde guy." Serena pointed to Sky who had gone to meet Bloom.

"HOLY SHIT THAT ONE'S A GUY?!" Mina exclaimed loudly. Serena hurriedly clamped her hands over her mouth as the winx started looking around at the outburst. Serena gave a small jump as Bloom approached her with Sky in tow.

"I didn't see anything!" She said quickly.

"Serena who's your friend?" Sky asked.

"AAAAGGGHH!" Mina shrieked, pointing at the blonde prince with a deranged look in her eyes. Bloom and Sky exchanged bewildered looks at this action, and even more so as Serena appeared to have not noticed it.

"Oh this is my friend Mina, she does that sometimes." The Moon Princess deadpanned. After a moment of awkward silence now that the frightening girl had stopped screaming Sky eventually decided it was safe to speak again.

"Oh… well I would introduce myself but she seems to have disappeared." He pointed to the spot next to her where Mina had been standing.

"Huh?" Serena turned around to see that Mina had run off behind a tree and was talking excitedly into her phone.

"I know right? Just how many million to one chances in the universe does something like that happen?! … But there are so many jokes!" She was saying. "How do I know which to use first?... oh right that works …Yeah of course I'll record!"

"What's your friend talking about?" Sky was looking at Serena in a bewildered manner.

"It's an in joke she has." Serena said wearily.

"Anyway, we were planning to head in now, are you coming?" Bloom said.

Serena sighed. "Ok We'll be right-,"

"Heey Skye!" Mina suddenly called with a tone oozing sugary sweetness, making the prince of Eraklyon turn around to face her.

Serena was inwardly facepalming at Mina's expression of anticipation as the Venusian Princess took a deep breath, preparing to speak with the straightest face.

"Do you believe in the Heart of the Cards?"

Sky stared at her confused. "Wh-what are the heart of the cards?"

"(GASP!) Blasphemy," Mina said in a shuddery whisper, edging away in horrified disgust.

000

"You're really going through with this huh?" Was all Serena could say. She and Mina had found a secluded booth near the bar and the latter had finally finished explaining her latest scheme.

"Come on! Don't tell me you didn't hear the connection at first!"

"Yeah I did but I didn't think too much of it!" Serena said. "Oh well, at least show the gang before you upload it anywhere!"

"Oh I plan to! Me and Marik are gonna go through all the footage once I'm done and edit it just right!" Mina winked, twirling the blue plastic umbrella that was perched on top of her glass. "Maybe it can be a special feature for the movie we can flaunt at the premiere!"

"Hold on," Serena held up a hand. "Are you sure that's a good idea? No one else is gonna know who Sky is, they won't get the joke!"

"It's just something fun!" Mina shrugged. "I know some people won't, but there might be some people who will! Like with all things artistic! For me, I'm gonna have a blast doing this and sharing it with my friends afterward!"

"Like that time we entered that voiceover contest?" Serena said with an amused smile.

**Flashback**

_Serena and Mina are standing on a stage at an anime convention with three other pairs of people in cosplay. Coincidentally Mina is in a cosplay as Sailor V and Serena is in a cosplay of her first Sailor Moon fuku. Ami, Raye and Lita are sitting in the audience. _

_Presenter: Now onto round two of dub that anime! For this next round, one of you has to sound like Arnold Schwarzenegger and the other one has to sound like crocodile hunter!_

_The audience laughs. Mina lights up. The other Sailor Scouts facepalm. _

_Presenter: Come forward team girl power!_

_Serena: (as they walk towards the screen to watch their designated clip) Why did you pick that name for us?_

_Mina: Sailor team was too obvious!_

_They watch the clip of inuyasha play out for 30 seconds. Then the clip is played without sound._

_Mina: (bad Schwarzenegger impression) PUT THAT COOKIE DOWN!_

_Serena doubles up laughing, she just about manages to choke out her line. _

_Serena: (really bad Australian accent) Er s'up mate? I was just abouta go hunt crocodi-_

_Mina: HUSH UP WE MUST GET TO THA CHOPPAA!_

_Serena: (still choked up) But Iwanna-_

_Mina: (as her second character) STICK AROUND. _

_Serena is rolling on the floor laughing and is unable to say anymore lines while Mina quotes any Schwarzenegger line she can think of, including a list of Mr Freeze ice puns from batman and robin. Even though Serena hasn't said much the audience gives them the loudest applause, getting them through to the next round. However they are kicked out in the semi final, as they are too shocked from the clip where a woman is turned into a cow. _

**End flashback**

"Hey Serena! Mina!" They finished wiping their eyes from laughing to see Bloom and Stella coming over to their table.

"Why don't you come and join us?" Bloom asked, gesturing to the large group behind them.

"Yeah, I'm just dying to know where you got your fashion advice from!" Mina didn't like the way Stella was eyeing up her outfit, it looked like she was going to try and rip it off in the near future.

"I have friends in the industry," Mina said coldly, taking a sip of her raspberry and Mango cider. "And it's Miss Minako to you!"

"I would say ignore her," Serena began, twirling the straw in her chocolate milkshake. "But I'm too hungover."

"Wait you're drinking alcohol in the day?" Bloom exclaimed at the sight of Mina's drink.

"Wait, you're not?" Mina deadpanned, as if her way was normal.

"But this place only serves milkshakes and fruit juice! How did you get that?"

"Ordered it." Was the simple response.

"Just do your universe a favour and don't question anything she does 'kay?" Serena deadpanned, determined to prevent a war from breaking out. "But sure we'll sit with you, if it keeps ya happy." As they got up from their seats Mina was grinning wildly to show she approved of this motion. Serena sweatdropped, knowing the Venusian's plan.

They found some seats by the edge of the winx's booth where Mina was officially introduced to the rest of the specialists. However Serena couldn't help but fall to the floor when her best friend met a certain pink haired one.

"OMA Musica you never told me you dated Dark Magician!" She squealed. She looked side to side from Sky to Riven as if her mind had just been blown.

"What do you mean dark magician?" Riven looked at her oddly. "None of us are wizards, especially not dark wizards!"

Serena gave a huge sigh, was she really gonna have to go there? "Ok ok," She waved her hands. "There's this awesome card game, really big on Earth right now, I could never get my head round the rules but thanks to one of her friends Mina's becoming a nut, anyway one of the cards is called Dark Magician- even though he's actually good- someday you people are gonna have to learn dark isn't always evil- but the point is you kinda sound like him." She faced Sky. "And you kinda sound like one of our other friends who's really good at this game." She took a deep breath as she finished explaining. "Did that clear anything up at all?"

"…Not really." Riven remarked.

"I. Give. Up" Was all Serena could say, massaging her forehead.

"Huh?" Hey eyes widened as she saw a familiar figure walk past the door.

"I'm… gonna go get some fresh air." She said quickly, waving her hand like a fan.

"You do that." Mina nodded. Somehow she knew the Moon Princess had an ulterior motive.

However as Serena got up and walked through the exit she suddenly realized the error of her ways.

"WAIT! DON'T LEAVE ME WITH…!"

It was too late. The winx had already descended upon her and had now started to ask her questions, ones that were about sane things.

"Me and my big mouth." Mina muttered crossly, massaging her temples.

000

"Stormy?" Serena wondered, peeking around the corner as she took a step outside. The back area was dimly lit and looked rather run down as graffiti covered the grey walls of the alleyway.

"Huh?" She jumped back, startled as she glimpsed a shadow dart out of sight, making a nearby dustbin rattle as it was passed. Just then a small gust of wind blew a piece of paper in her direction and almost hit her in the face if she hadn't caught it.

"Huh?" Looking closer her eyes widened as she saw the words "Sailor Moon" scrawled on one side. She quickly turned it over to see a short note written there.

**Sailor Moon**

**Come to the edge of the forest in an hour. Don't bring anyone else. **

"Hmm." She frowned, turning back to head into the building. She needed a breather to think this through.

000

"Geez, real specific huh?" Mina remarked, as they looked it over again while the Winx and the specialists were busy on the dancefloor.

"This has just gotta be from Stormy." Serena said seriously, scrumpling up the paper and sticking it in her jacket pocket. "Who else would do this?"

Mina's eyes narrowed. "What if its the fairies trying to set a trap for you? Think about it, their desperate to get the scoop on who you really are, not to mention you have- had these magic stars that can totally take out their enemy! I mean they can totally take out their leader too but that's not the point!"

"Hmm, you may have a point," Serena rested her chin on her hands. "But I still have to go, and I have to go alone, if I'm ever going to get Stormy to trust me. But while I'm gone," She turned to the other blonde. "Keep the fairies from going after me?"

"You got it!" Mina winked.

000

The designated hour came and Serena was standing at the designated clearing, checking the watch on her communicator.

"Ok," She took a deep breath as she pulled out her brooch and Crystal. "Here goes, MOON ETERNAL POWER!"

Once she was transformed Sailor Moon, having been unable to shake the nerves, paced from side to side to calm herself before going to sit on a rock. She had absolutely no idea what was going to happen. Was Stormy going to try and blast her again, or did she really want to listen to what the Senshi had to say? And what if it wasn't Stormy at all but one of the winx trying to find out her secrets? Oh well, she was going to find out sooner rather than later.

"I can't believe you actually showed up."

As Stormy stepped out of the shadows, Sailor Moon couldn't help but be slightly startled at the witch's appearance. It wasn't that she was wearing a maroon civilian outfit instead of her witch mini dress but all of the aggressive and confident energy she always had, seemed to be drained from her completely. Moon had never seen her like this before, and she was fairly certain no one else had either.

"Well, of course I showed up!" Was all Sailor Moon could say to that. "I received a message asking me to come, I had to keep my side of the bargain."

Stormy looked at her with a tired depression in her green eyes. "Why?" She asked. "Why did you still come, after I tried to kill you?"

Moon tapped into her positive energy to soften the blow when it came. "Because I knew why you did it. And I wanted to show that you don't have to be trapped in the darkness anymore…"

"Shut up!" Stormy held up a hand to silence her. "Just stop talking! I don't wanna hear it!"

"Then why did you call me?" Moon pressed, radiating her calming aura in Stormy's direction.

The frizzy haired witch rubbed her arm. "I've had time to think these past two days, about what happened. But I thought- I thought that there was a chance…" Stormy unwillingly found herself caving in to the positive energy.

"Yes?" Moon pressed gently, sensing the breakthrough.

"…That my sister was still alive."

The wall was finally broken. Her shoulders began to shake and tears began to flow from her eyes. Moon instantly placed her gloved hand on the girl's shoulder.

"It's all my fault she's gone!" Stormy's voice shook.

"No it isn't." Moon said firmly.

"It is! I was always making fun of her; I said some horrible things to her the day she disappeared! If I hadn't done that she wouldn't have…"

Moon watched her silently, waiting for her to finish.

"You know I can take you to see her." She said eventually.

Stormy looked up at her, her green eyes tinted pink and rather puffy. "You can do that?"

Moon nodded with a smile. "Of course! I know she'd be very happy to see you!"

Stormy stood up slowly. "It's funny, after what happened I haven't been back to Baltor's hideout since! It's like I can't use a power source I never knew I had!" She attempted to smile as she wiped away a tear.

"You still have your powers but the Ancestress controlling you is gone." Moon explained. "Not forever but I will take care of that. The point is you don't need to worry about it anymore."

"About that," Stormy was suddenly haunted by a fleeting image of Icy. "…It's nothing." She looked down again.

"Hmm." Moon wasn't convinced but the girl had been through enough already. It was time for her and her friends to do what they could to heal the holes in her heart. And she knew just what would make a good starting point.

000

Meanwhile back at the Magix club Mina was cheerfully recalling one of her favourite anecdotes.

"Aand that's how I saved the world while heavily sedated." She finished, taking another sip of her cider with a satisfied smirk.

The winx had temporarily been stunned into silence. Well they did ask her about herself, it was their call.

Eventually Bloom attempted to break the silence. "Hey remember that time where we rescued the pixies from Shadowhaunt?" She then proceeded to tell Mina the not-so-epic adventure of her Stella, Layla and Sky fought various monsters in the magic-draining cavern and how, despite Sky supposedly being trained to fight without magic, had gotten captured by the Queen of Downland's army.

"Wait, why didn't you summon the Magical Hats?" Mina looked dumbfounded. "They would've protected you!"

"Erm, what do you mean magical hats?" Sky was confused.

Mina sighed. "Sky, you're useless."

"Wha…"

"USELESS!"

000

It had been business as usual in Hikawa shrine. Raye and her new assistant were in the spare bedroom (which was now unofficially Darcy's room) packing up the good luck charms for the next day.

"Did you finish with the love charms?" The raven haired girl asked.

"Yeah, the new box is in the back," Darcy answered. "Do you want me to go get it?" She tried to get up from her futon.

"Thanks, but I got it covered!" Raye winked before turning to the door. "CHAD!"

"Yes Raye?" The former rockstar appeared next to her.

"Could you bring the box of good luck charms out from the store cupboard?" Raye said sweetly.

"Of course, right away Raye!" He hastily scrambled into action.

"Still got it!" Raye winked to herself.

"I know you like him." Darcy smirked from behind her. "I can sense it."

"Oh, I see some of your powers are coming back are they?" Raye tried to get rid of the huge sweatdrop that had formed on her forehead.

"Uh huh. I feel kinda dizzy though…" The brunette lay back on her pillow.

"Hmm," Raye felt her forehead. "Your fever seems to have gone down, but we still need to keep an eye on it."

"Did I hear something about powers coming back?" Serena had appeared in the doorway.

"Serena!" Raye exclaimed in surprise. "What are you doing here?" Then she raised an eyebrow. "Are you trying to bunk off school again?"

"Close but no cigar! I came to see Darcy! Well actually me and someone else came to see Darcy."

"Serena!" Darcy sat upright with a start.

"Hey Darcy, how're you doing?" Serena said gently.

"A lot better thanks," The witch smiled gratefully. "But what did you mean you and someone else?"

"I've brought someone to see you," The blonde told her. She looked over her shoulder at the empty doorway.

Slowly an uncertain Stormy stepped quietly into the room, her posture was bent and she was nervously clutching her left arm.

"Stormy?" Darcy's eyes widened.

All of the tension in the witch's body seemed to sag out of her as she bolted towards her older sister. Darcy smiled, maybe her first real smile in a long time as she returned the embrace.

"Darcy," Stormy's voice was shaking again. "I thought you were…"

"I'm not dead if that's what you're going to say." Darcy said, even though a tear had slipped down her face she was still smiling and her golden eyes held a warmth that definitely hadn't been there in any other parts of her life. "But I probably would be if it wasn't for Serena and her friends." She looked up at the two Senshi who had been enjoying the fact that their handiwork had resulted in the sisterly reunion.

"You saved her?" Stormy asked in amazement.

"Well, technically speaking…" Serena blushed. She didn't want to seem vain.

"Don't be modest of course you did!" Raye cut her off sharply. "But yes I was the one who looked after her while Meatball brain here-"

"-Spends 50% of her magical school career trying to evade fairies with revealing outfits that keep trying to show me up? Yeah I'm not exactly strapped for things to do!" Serena said.

"Speaking of that, won't they realize you're gone by now?" Raye frowned.

"Oh no, that shouldn't be a problem, Mina's covering for me!" Serena said cheerfully.

"What?!" Raye gaped. "You know you just nailed your own coffin right?"

"Oh c'mon!" Serena waved it off. "She wouldn't cross the line!"

000

"Soo," Stella said eventually. "Serena said you were a model!"

"Oh yeah I've always jumped at the chance with school fashion shows! My dream is to be an idol, I've got to take every chance I have to get talent spotted!" Mina replied.

"Wait, does that mean you sing?" Musa asked. "Music's my specialty too, I've been thinking about forming a winx band!"

"That's right!" Bloom cheered. She turned to Musa with a wink. "But only if you give me some singing lessons!"

Mina frowned. "But if Musa's the musician shouldn't she be the lead singer? If someone has a talent they shouldn't take a back seat!"

"I'm cool with it!" Musa interrupted hurriedly. "I can always play guitar! And besides Bloom is the most powerful of us after all!"

"Is that so?" Mina's sky blue eyes sparked. "Well I was wondering if I would get to showcase some of my stuff in this dimension- seeing as I'm starting to get pretty big in my home planet already. It's actually why I haven't been doing any dancing yet!" _"Well that and I did all the dancing last night!"_ She added silently, her mind fondly drifting back to said moment.

Standing up dramatically she pointed a finger at the fire fairy. "I challenge you to a sing-off!" She announced loudly. "The girl the audience likes best will be known as the greatest singer of all time!"

"…And the loser?" Bloom asked.

"…Won't!" Mina finished.

"You got a deal!" Bloom smirked, her competitive side coming out. It would be great to see this strange blonde girl knocked off her pedestal.

"No offence Mina darling but don't get too upset when Bloom wins!" Stella remarked knowingly.

"Oh I won't." Mina said coldly. She turned to her rival. "And I believe you were supposed to say 'Challenge accepted!'"

000

"…Well don't be too surprised when you get back." Raye sighed, turning back to Darcy and Stormy. "You'll have to share a room." She told them, predicting that Serena would ask if Stormy could stay too. The Martian Princess turned to the younger witch. "Can you still use your powers?"

"I-I think so," Stormy said uncertainly. She held out her hands and a small orb of wind swirled above them.

"Hmm." Raye searched her aura. "They still seem to have taken a small dive but it's nowhere near as bad as Darcy's was. You're probably just feeling a bit shaky right now, is all." 

"You got that right." Stormy sat down at the end of Darcy's bed. Serena put a hand on her arm.

"It's nothing some R&R won't fix! And if you don't believe me, just ask Darcy!"

"She's right." Stormy looked up to see Darcy's golden eyes shine with a sincerity she didn't use to have. "Breaking away from Baltor and Magix was the best thing that ever happened to me! I finally feel like I'm worth something again!"

"Darcy." Stormy said quietly.

"We'll leave you two alone." Serena said knowingly, sliding the door shut and leaving herself and Raye outside.

Raye smiled with a raised eyebrow. "Normally I'd get annoyed that you were dumping people on me, but I know this situation is important! Stormy shouldn't be too much trouble, right?"

"Of course," Serena nodded. "I already cleared that up with her. That reminds me, how is guarding the star going?"

"So far, so good. Although," Raye looked away for a moment in thought. 

"What?" Serena was concerned.

"Yesterday afternoon I went to check on it and it seemed to be glowing! But it stopped after a few minutes. The others did the same. Ami thinks they're all connected somehow."

"That must've been when Mina used hers against Valtor!" Serena realized. "His power is the one they were made to get rid of!"

Raye looked serious. "Then their ability must only kick in when they come into contact with this dragon fire! If they're the only things that can stop it…"

"I'll figure it out somehow," Serena sighed. "In the meantime tell Ami so she can run some more tests, we've still got them separated so hopefully no one can track them down…"

"That's the thing." Raye said. "If we divided them up, surely their connection shouldn't have been that strong! Maybe something else helped it, it could be linked to those bracelets Galaxia gave you!"

"Ooh all this strategy stuff's starting to make my head spin!" Serena groaned. "And I gotta get back and see what Mina's done to the fairies, hopefully they're not piles of Venus dust!" She whipped out her communicator teleport. "Just keep me up to date on everything, 'kay?"

"Of course." Raye nodded.

000

Just as Serena appeared in the doorway she saw Mina onstage, holding a microphone and singing along to the catchy beat. The crowd was waving glowsticks and swaying enthusiastically to her powerful voice.

"_Wake me up in San Francisco, Wake me up in San Francisco!_

_Take me back to the city of love, to the place that I've been dreaming of! Take me back to San Francisco!"_

As soon as she sang her last note the crowd went wild. Some people threw roses onto the platform as Mina bowed happily. However Serena couldn't help but notice Bloom sitting rather sulkily in her seat while her friends consoled her, despite the fact that they couldn't help tapping their toes to Mina's version of Cascada's melody.

"Thank you thank you!" Her eyes shone with excitement as she collected her flowers as she took many bows. "But I'd like to thank my best friend Serena for believing in my dream, if it wasn't for her I'd be nowhere! This is for you Sere!" She called to the back of the room.

Serena walked up to the stage and gently took hold of her arm with a smile.

"I'd also like to thank my other BFFFS Raye, Lita and Ami, and Serena's boyfriend Darien and their future daughter, and my cat Artemis, and Serena's cat Luna, and my Duel Monsters buddy Marik, and Andrew from the arcade and his sister…" Mina kept gushing as she was lead off the stage.

000

"So I guess you're going back to Earth now, huh?" Serena said somewhat sadly. She was standing in the courtyard opposite Mina, who had her back to a glowing sunset, their respective feline guardians curled at their feet. "I mean if we want to meet up again we can just call each other, right?"

"Of course!" Mina replied with a bright smile. "Don't be sad Serena, I had a great time!" She winked, making her V for victory sign. "It's not every day that I can beat a supposedly powerful fairy in a sing-off! And besides," She smirked deviously. "I'm certain this Alpha school definitely haven't seen the last of me!"

"Well I'm so glad you decided to visit!" Serena said. "I know I couldn't have won that battle yesterday without your help!"

"Speaking of which, yay a pun! How was that girl?" Mina wanted to know.

Serena closed her eyes with a smile. "I know Raye and Lita will look after them, and Ami's researching our new gadgets."

"Ooh I almost forgot…" Mina produced her water star. "I'll keep it with me at all times, Scout's honour!" She did a mock salute, which Serena returned. Mina stashed it away and opened her teleport.

"But for now I believe there is business waiting for me, those jokes aren't going to make themselves! Artemis, you ready?"

"Of course." The white cat nodded. He and Luna exchanged looks that said, _"Keeping Senshi leaders out of trouble, it's a full time job!"_

"Bye V chan." Serena said softly as Mina and Artemis shimmered from sight in sparks of golden light.

"Well that was fun!" She turned to Luna with a smile. "I really needed that!"

"Yes," Luna nodded wisely. Then she looked gravely towards the setting sun. "But I can't help but think about the battles yet to come!"

"Neither can I," Serena said. "And I still haven't gotten any closer to this Enchantix! Will I really need it to beat Valtor?"

"I wish I knew the answer." Luna sighed. "But I do believe you have become a lot stronger from this experience, and I know you will be able to secure the future of Crystal Tokyo when the time comes!"

"I'll have to." Serena said simply. Feeling the Silver Crystal rest in the brooch hanging above her heart she knew she would face the moments when they arrived. But if the members of the Sailor Alliance were stronger than regular fairies, then what would be her equivalent of the Enchantix? And just how was she supposed to gain it?


	21. Has shit gone down yet? (part 1 of 2)

**Hello there everyone. Just before you start reading this chapter, it was originally intended to be a lot bigger but the second part still needed work. However i thought i should put up something after not updating or writing for so long so this chapter has been split into two parts! I hope you enjoy part one :)**

**A few days ago**

It was late. Ami had been in her room copying out an extract from her textbook for the past hour and a half. Some of her new german friends had invited her to join them on a night out but she had politely declined. What they didn't know was that her reason for staying behind was far more important than they could ever comprehend, in fact the fate of a different dimension depended on it.

Now that her floor seemed deserted Ami could finally do what she had been planning for a while- carry out further research on the water stars.

She entered her ensuite bathroom carefully produced the see through plastic bowl of water from the cabinet, in which the golden magical object floated. Having cleared her desk of her files she brought the bowl over and placed it on the wooden surface.

She lay her communicator flat on the edge of the desk and flipped the screen open.

"Hey Ami!" Lita waved cheerfully as her image appeared on the round screen.

"Thanks for agreeing to help me with this Lita!" Ami smiled.

"No problem, its still daytime back here, and this is more important than anything! So what exactly are you planning?"

"Do you have your water star with you?" The bluette asked.

"Got it right here! I also put it in water like you, i figured the water might boost its power!"

"Good! Then we can get started!" Ami beamed. "So far i've found that these objects are currently dormant, so i thought we could try and make them come into contact with magical energy to see if they awaken. Serena said that it was a fire power that they would resist, but your lightning could come close!"

"I'm on it! JUPITER CRYSTAL POWER!" In a flash of green Lita was suited in her emerald Sailor fuku. She fished her water star out of its bowl and held it in the palm of her hand with a pondering look on her face.

"So how does this work, i just zap it with- EEK!"

She had pointed a finger at the star and accidentally zapped it, seeing as how it was still wet she received a mild electric shock, making her ponytail spike up.

"Oh no Lita! Are you alright?" Ami asked anxiously, one hand covering her mouth.

"Relax i'm fine!" Lita waved it off. "We both know i can't get electrocuted!"

**Flashback**

_The Sailor Scouts are walking down a dark alleyway with Sailor Moon holding a pink torch. They scream in unison as a cyberman suddenly appears behind them._

_Cyberman: YOU ARE NOT UPGRADED._

_It reaches out a large metal hand flowing with electricity, preparing to give the nearest Senshi a deathly electric shock. Unfortunately for the Cyberman it is Sailor Jupiter, who blocks its attack by slamming her fist into its palm. _

_Sailor Jupiter: Upgrade this metal head! JUPITER FALCONNN PUNCH!_

_With seemingly no effort she grabs it by the arm and flips it over, overdosing it with the electricity in her arms in the process. She stands back to admire her handiwork as the girls gasp in amazement at the mangled remains of the robotic being as it now twisted on the floor. _

_**End Flashback**_

"You may be right!" Ami giggled. "Huh?" Looking up from the device she could see that her water star was glowing from its bowl of water on her desk!

"Whoa! i swear i didn't use that much power!" Lita exclaimed, picking up her own glowing star by one of its points.

Ami put on her glasses. "I don't think you did that Lita," She placed her hands in the bowl on either side of her star and focused her energy on the water around it. After a few minutes she stopped and dried her hands on the hem of her skirt.

"I think one of the water stars has been in contact with that dragon fire!" She told Lita. "But it wasn't one of ours!"

"So what does that mean?" Lita asked. "Has Serena had to face Baltor again?"

"I'll contact her as soon as i can." Ami answered determinedly. "If you find Raye please ask her if her water has done the same. If it has then i might just have the solution to taking this wizard down!"

000

"Oh man i can't believe they keep going on about Magix being in danger and still give us homework!" Serena moaned, slumping over her desk.

"You should try and do as much of it as you can," Luna advised, looking out the window at the evening sky. "Any piece you do could help you in the future!"

"Ugh i bet those guys in there never do their homework!" Serena hung her head back to stare at the door upside down.

_BEEP BEEP._

"Sweet Serenity i'm saved!" The blonde beamed as she swung forwards to see one of the buttons on her communicator flashing. "Luna go outside and keep watch," She tried to shoo the cat in the direction of the door. "You know, so no one interrupts our Sailor business!"

"Fine! I'm going!" Luna exclaimed as she quickly sprinted outside the room.

"Hello? What's up Ami?" Serena smiled as Ami's face appeared.

"Serena i've been trying to study the water stars and i've discovered that all six of them are connected! The other day mine appeared to be glowing for no apparent reason but when Lita contacted Raye, they told me that theirs were doing the same thing!"

"Did it happen the other day?"

"That's right! My theory is that the dragon fire can only be extinguished if all six of them are there to use their full power! One could do a lot of damage but all of them together will unleash the full power!"

"Right," Serena said. "Maybe when they glow that can be our signal to bring them together!"

"Speaking of meeting up, how did it go with Mina? Were you able to find her?"

"Oh she found me alright, it was actually her who activated one of the water stars!"

"Somehow i don't find that hard to believe," Ami giggled. "So when she activated hers it must have alerted the others! But even though they all share a bond i'm still puzzled by how the connection could be that strong. It would be a lot simpler if we knew something else was helping their energy trail!"

"You know Amy, i think that there was something else," Serena said slowly. She relayed the events of what had happened with her Galactic bracelets.

"I mean i'm still trying to figure out what exactly it is that they do but they seem to be boosting whatever i've got!" She finished.

"That's interesting!" Ami looked thoughtful as she put her glasses back on. "But it would help if you could try and find out more about them!"

"When i get the time that's what i'll do! You know i think we're onto something here!" Serena said excitedly. "I mean if i end up having to face Valtor again and pull out my water star- when it glows you guys can teleport over and we serve a case of some major Scout whoopass!"

"And also if you were in any danger against this guy, we'd immediately come as backup." Ami added seriously.

"Of course!" Serena nodded in agreement. "I could never do it alone!"

"Well i'll call Raye and Lita and give them an update on what we've just discussed." Ami said, peering at what little she could see of Serena's room, including the papers on her desk. "Judging by how you have work to do..."

"-I do not!" Serena cut in indignantly. Then she sighed. "Well at least leave Mina to me."

"Very well! Speak to you soon!" Ami gave a small wave as the picture went out.

Stretching herself in her chair Serena gave a huge sigh that sounded more like a yawn. Casually looking to her side she spotted the jewelled memory stick on her bedside table. Smiling thoughtfully she picked it up and sat at the stool.

"Hmm, Mina said i could use it as bait to trap Valtor," She thought. "But i wonder what's really on this thing… Damnit i knew i should've asked her before she left!" She picked up her communicator that had been lying next to a few perfume bottles. Flipping it open she pressed Mina's combo. Sure enough the image of her blonde friend flickered onto the screen.

"Serena! You just can't get enough of me can you?" Mina winked cheekily. "I know this is hard for you but its only been a few days!"

"Don't flatter yourself V chan," Serena grinned. "In all of our crazy fun times i forgot i had to ask you-"

"I totally didn't prank call the ginger fairy with a Jack Black soundboard!" Mina quickly cut in.

Serena moved back from her screen. "That was you?"

**Flashback**

_The winx and Serena are sitting in the White Horse, while Bloom is busy at her part time job there. All Serena can think is that she is very glad Bloom wasn't working when she last came to the cafe._

_Suddenly Bloom's phone rings. It is on speaker._

_Bloom: Hello?_

_Jack Black voice: Yeah hold on a second i'm looking at the menu_

_Bloom: Er would you like to order a takeout?_

_Jack Black voice: Er- yeah, you know how you got the six piece nuggets? _

_Bloom (unsure where this is going): uh yeah?_

_Jack Black voice: Can- can you give me just four nuggets?_

_Bloom: I'm afraid i can't do that, those are only for the children's portions._

_Jack Black voice: Take the six nuggets and throw two of them away, i'm just wanting a four nugget thing, i'm trying to watch my... calorie intake_

_Bloom: Well we'll have to charge you full price!_

_Jack Black voice: Yeah...How much is that sir?_

_Bloom (unimpressed): I'm a girl. And that'll be seven dollars._

_Jack Black: Now if you could just go half coca cola, half diet coke. _

_Bloom: What? You can't half a drink! You have to decide if you want regular or diet-_

_Jack Black: SHUT UP!_

_Bloom jumps back from the phone slightly. Serena, who has been trying not to laugh this whole time, can see that the fire fairy desperately wants to burn something._

_Jack Black voice: SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO MY ORDER._

_Bloom: Ok who is this?! Is this a prank call?! Are you working for Baltor?! Because if you are i'm gonna... i'm gonna teach you a lesson! _

_The winx are looking concerned, wondering if they should go in and assist her. Serena has her sleeves over her hands as she rocks back and forth in her chair silently laughing. She's pretty sure she can hear laughing on the other side of the magic phone but whoever it is hangs up before Bloom can do anything else. _

**End flashback**

"Well that now makes a lot more sense," Serena said. "But i actually wanted to ask about the 'present' you gave me!" She held the usb in front of the small screen.

"Ngggh!" Mina was incredibly annoyed that she had revealed such a great prank. Serena could hear someone talking offscreen on Mina's end, making the Venusian blush crossly. "I didn't mean to!" She protested to them but quickly shook it off and turned back to Serena. "Well i was saying that you can use that as your bait!"

"But what's on it? A computer virus?"

"Let's just say if you leave it lying around and it falls into the wrong hands it'll keep your secrets safe with hilarious results!" Mina gave a cheerful grin.

"So you're saying anyone could look at it?" Serena asked.

"Yup!"

"Hmm," A thoughtful smile crossed Serena's face.

000

_It was a nightmare! Everywhere she turned, Baltor was there- even ordinary students were morphing into the Dark wizard. Despite the fact that he had been unable to enter Alfea all she could see was him standing there as she ran down the corridor. She skidded to a halt as she saw another Baltor conversing with her friends like it was normal._

_"So anyway that's how it ended!" He said, flipping some smooth straight hair over his shoulder while the Winx laughed. _

_"Hey Bloom! Didn't you hear? we're going to be called Baltor high from now on! Isn't that awesome!" Stella turned around gleefully._

_"Of course, it's such an improvement!" Baltor continued. "And right by my side will be my top girl! Isn't that right Sailor Moon?" He turned to reveal that he had his arm around the mysterious Senshi, who was grinning evilly in agreement. Her white mask completely shielded her eyes from view. _

"Bloom! Wake up, wake up," Flora was gently patting her shoulder. "You're just having a bad dream sweetie!"

"Let my parents go!" Bloom suddenly shouted, sitting upright in bed.

"It's alright Bloom!"

"Oh wow!" Bloom sat back on her pillow, careful not to lean on her hair accessories that couldn't be comfortable to sleep in. "I was having this bad dream about Baltor and my parents and Sailor Moon and i didn't know what to do!"

The creaking of their door made them look up to see that the rest of the winx standing in the doorway.

"We heard the noise and wondered if you guys had decided to throw an impromptu pyjama party?" Musa said with a smile.

"We could have one now, it might cheer Bloom up!" Flora said.

"Did you have another bad dream about Baltor and your parents?" Layla asked.

"Yeah and i haven't figured out what i should do! And now Sailor Moon has the only items that can stop him!"

"Maybe we should try and find out more about Sailor Moon," Tecna suggested, pulling out her

"After finding nothing last time? Please Tecna we can't waste anymore time on stuff that doesn't exist!" Stella crossed her arms.

"Well what if we've been looking in the wrong place?" Tecna gave a knowing smile as she produced her trusty magic phone.

"The reason the library at Alfea doesn't have anything about Sailor Moon is that what if Sailor Moon never went to Alfea? What if she came from another dimension- like Earth?" A hologram of the blue and green planet shimmered into view as she tapped a few keys.

"Wait a minute," Stella paused with a frown. "Serena's from Earth! I remember Serena was talking to her friends and Mina mentioned Sailor Moon! I can't remember exactly what she was saying but i did hear the name!"

"Well then maybe Serena knows who Sailor Moon is and where to find her!" Musa said.

Bloom looked at Stella. "Where's Serena now?"

"Still in my room," The Solarian replied. "Good luck trying to talk to her at this hour!"

Bloom swung herself out of bed. "Well we'll have to try, the sooner we find out about Sailor Moon, the sooner we can take down Baltor!"

000

When they entered Stella and Serena's room they found the latter curled up comfortably in her bed with Luna on her side, hugging one of her pillows. Bloom slowly edged forward to touch her shoulder...

"NO JOEY THAT'S MY GIANT DOUGHNUT!" Serena suddenly yelled, her eyes still shut. The fairies stared at her as she rolled over, mumbling about how she didn't want to play a shadow game for it.

"Serena!"

"WHAA!" Serena shot up, alert in a karate stance and dislodging Luna. She turned to the fairies with a grimace. "This better be good, i was winning!"

"Serena, i know it's late, but there's something i gotta ask you," Bloom approached her.

"Couldn't it wait til morning?" Serena groaned, rubbing her eye with a yawn as a disgruntled Luna climbed back onto the bed.

"Well we're looking for someone and we need your help!" Musa explained. "What do you know about Sailor Moon?" Stella cut in.

_HAAA? _Serena's brain started to go into meltdown status. _"What the Smurf Luna?! You said that they wouldn't find anything!"_ She inwardly screamed at the cat. _"Hold on,"_ Her inner panic was halted by the plan she had made yesterday. _"It's a little early but it should work just fine!"_ She thought with a sly grin that would have made Mina proud. Outwardly she sighed. "Everything i know is on this memory stick." She picked up the glittering equipment from her bedside table.

"So you're saying that that usb has information on Sailor Moon?" Tecna enquired as she took it from Serena's outstretched hand.

"It has all i know," Serena corrected before yawning loudly. "Can i go back to sleep now?"

"Of course! Thanks Serena!" Bloom grinned as the winx exited the room. Serena slumped back against her pillow with a sigh of relief.

"What exactly did you give them?" Luna asked with raised eyebrows.

Serena chuckled. "Oh just something that Mina gave me! Ooh i promised her i'd get some reactions!" She reached for her camera and handed it to the cat with a cheesy grin.

"...Fine, i'm awake anyway!" Luna took the camera in her paws and went off to find the fairies.

000

"Alright Tec, let's see some Sailor Moon!" Stella said excitedly as the pinkeye plugged the usb into her large computer.

"Finally we'll get to see who she really is!" Layla cheered.

"That's right! And then we can find her and convince her to join our side!" Bloom said. "Or at least make her give us the water stars!"

"It's finally loaded!" Tecna announced as a video popped up on the screen. However instead of vital information it was revealed to be a video of an extremely muscly blonde man in tight pink clothes dancing around a sparkly pink and gold background, waggling his dark eyebrows and singing in an extremely high voice.

_And i say_

_HEYAYAYAYA_

_HEYAYA_

_I said HEY!_

_What's going on?_

_And i say_

_HEYAYAYAYA_

_HEYAYA_

_I said hey!_

_What's going on?_

"Wh-what is this?" Bloom exclaimed once she finally found her voice.

"I- i haven't the faintest idea!" Tecna rested her forehead in her hands. This had to be the first time in her life where she was faced with something she didn't know!

"How can a guys voice be that high?!" Musa stared at the screen, trying to comprehend the phenomenon before her eyes. "If it even is a guy," Layla refused to admit that a man would wear pink like that.

"He does have nice leggings!" Stella couldn't stop herself from eyeing him up.

"It says it goes on for ten hours..." Tecna whispered weakly.

000

Somewhere in America Mina was in a small supermarket consulting her shopping list for her mini fridge (at least she didn't have to pay for the snacks that she'd already scoffed once finding it, courtesy of some handy mind magic).

"Oh," She looked ahead at the large queue for one of the cashiers. Right next to it was a sing that said "DON'T CUT IN LINE" In big red letters.

"What is it?" Marik asked as he came back from a shelf with a box of pop tarts and put them in her shopping trolley.

"I really wanna cut in line when we get to the queue," She said with a dreamy sigh, as if she had always wanted to carry out said action.

"Is it me or do you have a thing for wrecking stores?" He asked, amused. She had told him the story of of she and Serena had been banned from a japanese supermarket before Serena had left for Alfea.

Mina's face flushed. "Do you like stores being wreck-Uh- MWAHAHAHAAAA!"

Suddenly she inexplicably broke into evil laughter that left her with a triumphant grin on her face. Marik cocked his head to one side.

"Your evil laugh has improved, but what was that for?"

Mina rubbed her hands together. "I sense that one of my pranks finally got a payoff! I just hope Serena recorded it!"

000

"Thanks for recording it Luna!" Serena hugged her feline guardian after she had safely stashed the camera away. "I can't wait to show Mina when i get back!"

"All i can say is i'm glad you didn't blow your cover!" Luna remarked.

"Anyhoo, i've got to get going! Don't wanna be late for class! Ooh listen to me!" Serena got up with a giggle and picked up her shoulder back. "See ya later

Luna!" She waved as she ran out the room.

Fortunately Serena arrived at her history of magic class just in time and scampered to her usual seat.

"Hey there!" Mirta gave a friendly wave from the seat next to her. "I saved your usual spot!"

"Thanks Mirta!" Serena beamed as she sat down and placed her bag on her lap to get out her pony pencil case. "This has got to be a record for me! I was always getting detention back home!"

"Well looks like your not the only one, i heard this class is gonna be extra special today!" The red haired ex witch winked.

"A class? Special? I'll believe that when i see it!" Serena snorted with a laugh.

"Good morning class!" Professor Paladium strolled into the lecture theatre. "I hope you're all alert and awake because today we're covering a very special topic!"

"Oh boy," Serena winced as she saw the winx sitting a few rows in front of her, still trying to recover the braincells they had fried from watching Mina's prank.

"Today we're going to look at the history of the Silver Millennium!"

"Huh?!" Serena did a double take as all the students gasped in amazement at the holographic painting of the Moon Kingdom he had just conjured up.

"The Moon Kingdom?" All the winx sat up straight.

"Long long ago, way before the magical universe there was a whole other solar system whose planets were all part of the Silver Millennium," Professor Paladium continued. "The head of this Millennium was the Moon Kingdom, which was ruled by Queen Serenity. Various other planets and their rulers were part of her court. It is said that this queen was the one who protected the legendary Silver Imperium Crystal! The most powerful object to ever exist! In fact it was so powerful it even created that Solar System's universe!"

_"And i've got it right here!"_ Serena thought as she clutched it in her pocket. "This is awesome!" Mirta whispered excitedly as she scribbled down notes.

"Wait, Professor!" Bloom raised a hand. "I'm confused! I thought the Dragon Fire was the most powerful thing to exist!"

"That may be Bloom," Paladium smiled. "But remember, the Silver Millennium existed so long ago that it is often debated whether or not it even existed to begin with! Even the Crystal itself is just a legend! Now i will show you some amateur artist interpretations of this mythic crystal!"

Serena sat there, not really knowing what to think about that. On one hand she was pleased that the secrets of her heritage would remain guarded but she was getting incredibly annoyed that the wonderful world was being tarnished with false rumours. Every drawing of the crystal was horribly inaccurate, one looked like an overgrown diamond, another looked like an elephant had sat on it, hell, she swore she'd even seen one that was shaped like Nicholas Cage's face!

In her honest opinion this lesson was starting to read like a bad fanfiction- like the BBC show about Robin Hood, Mina had once organised a drinking game in which they would take shots for every bad fan fiction cliche, from continuity plotholes to self insert mary sues! Needless to say they had ended up wasted afterwards. What was next, having Robin Hood cross over with another show and then reveal himself as a brony by having a dream where he parties with Pinkie Pie?

_"It's true that show could do with some ponies, but who does that, just who does that?! " _Serena thought with a shake of her head as she zoned out of the class.

"And that concludes today's lesson!" Paladium announced, snapping her out of her reverie. As the students filed out of class chattering excitedly about what they had just learned, Serena spotted the winx standing by the exit.

"I would be more sympathetic, but they asked for it when they interrupted my sleep!" She shrugged as she ambled past them down the corridor to her next class, not noticing Faragonda come through the other side of the door and approach the Winx.

"Ah, i'm glad i caught you girls," She said, hurrying over to them. "I would like to speak with you in my office right away."

000

"Last night i received urgent news." Faragonda informed the group once they were all in her office. "Baltor has recaptured Cloud Tower and hidden it with a powerful spell!"

"No!" They exclaimed. "Is everyone ok?" Flora asked anxiously.

Faragonda nodded. "Fortunately Griffin and the students made it out in time. But it is what i feared for a long time, Baltor still has a connection to the ancestresses, whose essences reside there."

"Wait, the ancestresses who attacked Sparx?" Bloom spoke up. "They must know what happened to my parents! They've just got to know what happened to the people whose planet they destroyed!"

"Quite possibly. But Baltor is intent on becoming stronger for another reason, I believe your last class was on the legend of the Moon Kingdom, correct?" The headmistress said.

"Well yeah," Bloom began.

"Then you will have also been told about the Silver Imperium Crystal?"

"Was it that silver jewel that looked like some weird guy's face?" Layla asked.

"But it's just a story!" Stella cut in. "On Solaria everyone knows it's a myth!"

Faragonda turned away from the window with a serious expression. "That may be Stella but i have reason to believe that the Crystal does in fact exist and that Baltor is after it!"

"What?!" All the fairies exclaimed.

"So Baltor knows about it too?" Tecna enquired.

"The legend is recorded in Solaria's archives, it is likely he learned about it from there." Ms F answered.

"But if it is real, how would he know where to find it?" Flora asked worriedly.

"I don't know Flora but if he already had it the whole of Magix would definitely know by now." Faragonda walked in front of her desk. "But i'm afraid that's not all," She conjured up a holographic projection of Magix, the day when Serena had gone there with the Winx. The picture showed Sailor Moon standing on the window of the Magix museum.

"There have been recent sightings of a mysterious warrior, she calls herself Sailor Moon."

"Sailor Moon!" Bloom exclaimed. "We've been trying to find her, she's got the water stars!"

"But isn't she on our side?" Flora said. "She threw a pizza at Baltor the first time we saw her!"

Faragonda looked up. "At the moment no one knows who Sailor Moon is and who's side she's on! All we know is that she's extremely powerful and she first appeared when Baltor started searching for the crystal. I would advise you to keep on guard if you see her again." She sighed. "But i am worried about Serena, she seems to hold a trace of power that sounds like the Lunarians, even though we don't know what it is exactly. I still fear that Baltor will come after her at some point!"

"So should we stick with her like you said?" Musa asked. However Faragonda quickly shook her head.

"No no you shouldn't do that!" The white haired woman placed a hand on her forehead, it was as if the thought had embedded itself in her mind. "I'm just saying you should look out for her, but she is free to go where she chooses!"

"Er...ok? But don't worry Ms F! We'll get Cloud Tower back!" Bloom said determinedly. _"And maybe i can speak with the Ancestresses!" _She thought.

000

Later the fairies plus one were all assembled in front of the winding path that would normally lead to the school for Witches. However instead of a dark castle all they could see were swirling purple mists.

"This is where Cloud Tower used to be you guys," Bloom said.

"So now we must try to deduce where it's gone to!" Tecna added.

"Er someone tell me why i'm here again?" Serena asked.

"Well you did say that your magic allows you to sense other magical energies, you could try and figure how what kind of spell was cast!" The technology fairy told her.

"Just like that time in 6th grade where some mean girl spelled my really cute sweater and turned it plaid!" Stella exclaimed. "Once i knew what kind of spell it was, i was able to turn it back!"

"Except this is an entire school and Baltor's not a sixth grader!" Bloom said somewhat condescendingly. "Could've fooled me," Serena muttered under her breath. He had certainly acted like one in front of her. "So my aura sensing will tell me that?" She turned back to the Winx.

"If you've been paying attention in class!"

"Er...ok!" Serena stepped in front of them and closed her eyes. She'd only thought her energy sensing worked for people, buildings didn't have souls, did they?

"Huh?" She gave a small gasp as she felt the energy of something in front of her.

"Serena? Are you ok?" She turned to see Flora.

"I-i can sense Cloud Tower's aura," She told everyone. "It feels like the castle has its own heart!"

"That's true," The nature fairy nodded, remembering their "exchange program" from the previous year. "But that would mean that it should be right in front of us!" Layla pointed out.

"So it can't have been a negatis or transportis spell," Tecna moved away to examine some of the ground. "But it might have been an illusion spell!"

"You mean as in he hid it by putting up an invisibility barrier!" Bloom slowly realised.

"Our Enchantix power should be able to see if that's true!" Stella exclaimed, immediately transforming while the others followed suite.

"Illusion spells are something that we can break with our fairy dust!" Layla cheered once they were ready. Five out of six fairies produced their fairy dust bottles and began to spray the area, uncovering what looked like a bad CGI version of Mirror Wall.

"Why aren't you up there with your friends Bloom?" Serena asked the fire fairy who was hovering next to her.

"My Enchantix power is still incomplete so Ms Faragonda said it might have limitations," Bloom explained sadly.

_"Haha sucks to be you!"_ A chibi Mina in a red devil costume snorted from Serena's shoulder. "Hey!" Serena looked down at her. "Get outta here!"

"You're the one imagining me! You do it!" Chibi Mina stuck her tiny tongue out.

"Fine," Serena sighed and closed her eyes. When she opened them she was gone.

"Uh, Serena?"

"Hm?" She turned to see Bloom staring at her oddly. "Oh i'm fine!" She laughed nervously. "Hey look your friends are done!" She quickly pointed at the puffs of pink smoke that were disintegrating the bad CGI Mirror Wall. Slowly but surely the illusion vanished to reveal the purple building.

"Alright you did it!" Bloom cheered as the others came to join them.

"It was just as easy as getting my sweater back!" Stella winked.

000

"You know all about the power of laughter don't you?" Baltor glared as he watched them through the crystal ball. "Well soon you'll learn about the power of tears! Isn't that right Icy?" With an evil sneer he glanced sideways to where she stood, half hidden in the shadows and still as an inert android. Her head jerked up slightly robotically as her mouth twisted into a clownish leer and her eyes glowed red.

000

Having successfully entered the school the six fairies plus Serena were journeying down the main corridor.

"So why are we still here? We found the school didn't we?" The Moon Princess was looking around at the gothic decor, she definitely preferred Alfea's pink walls.

"Ms Faragonda said the essence of the Ancestresses is in Cloud Tower's crypt which is just up ahead!" Bloom replied.

"WHAT?!" Serena mentally shrieked. "You're going after some of the worst kinds of evil?!" She shrieked. "Are you trying to get your dimension destroyed?!"

"Huh? They know what happened to my birth parents! Of course i have to ask them!" Bloom said indignantly.

"And the Headmistress is OK with you awakening evil forms of chaos?! You know what? I'm out. Screw you guys, i'm going to Alfea!" She said with a tone of finality as she pointed to the door with both hands.

"But Serena its not safe for you to-"

"Screw you guys, Alfea!" With that she turned around and defiantly headed to the door. The fairies were at loss on whether to go after her or not.

"Let's keep going." Bloom eventually said, choosing to fly off. The others nodded swiftly and followed with only Flora hesitantly looking back for a second.

"I've got better things to do with my time!" Serena thought crossly as she strode towards her target. "Once me and the girls beat Valtor i can finally go home and leave this madness- AAAAHH!"

She had almost been at the door when she felt a dull blow to the back of her head, knocking her to the floor. A possessed Icy appeared from behind and teleported her unconscious body away.

000

From their stations all over the world Ami, Raye, Lita, Mina and Darien all let out a collective shiver, as if they knew something bad had just happened. Was Serena in trouble? They each looked at their respective Water Stars, they hoped the signal would come soon, or anything to know she was alright.


	22. Our Princess is out of the castle (part2

"Ugh…" When Serena eventually started to open her eyes she found herself in a dingy looking dungeon room. The lack of light or windows told her it must be in the basement of Cloud Tower. Even though she was too tired to get up she could see a set of magical iron bars in front of her, confirming the fact that she was in a small cell. She looked down at herself. Oh well at least she wasn't tied up, maybe the fact that her water star was still in her pocket had meant Baltor hadn't been able to get too close.

"So your name's Serena," Baltor drawled as he entered the room and stopped in front of her cell.

"If you think you can scare me you're gonna have a bad time," Serena said frankly. She was too groggy to attempt to feign any emotion.

"Oh but i don't want to harm you, i only wanted to talk to you face to face!" The wizard feigned hurt. "Well unless your fairy friends don't fulfil their end of the bargain!"

Warning lights flashed in Serena's head. "I'm probably gonna regret asking this but what bargain?"

"You see i'm after a fighter called Sailor Moon and her legendary crystal- rumoured to be the most powerful object in existence! Not to mention she is in possession of certain… other items." He looked away darkly, making Serena smirk at the fact that Mina had already used one of them.

"If she's working for the company of light then Bloom and the others must know her! So i'm willing to make them a deal - Sailor Moon and her Crystal for you!"

_**"Aagh!"** _Serena was torn between bursting into laughter or face palming her head onto the hard ground from the sheer stupidity of that sentence. As was she was just left with a look of blank shock that made her seem like she was staring into space.

"I know," Baltor continued, misinterpreting her silence. "I'm afraid the situation doesn't look too good for you in the meantime!"

_"I've gotta get out of here!"_ Serena thought. Then she turned aside so she could give an evil grin. _"Ooh how could i forget my best trick?!" _

Her lip quivered. "Yo-you mean i can't go home?"

Baltor tossed his head back with a laugh. "Why that's exactly what i mean!"

Serena squeezed her eyes shut readying herself for what needed to be done.

"WAAAAAHAHAAA!"

000

"We're almost there girls!" Bloom announced as the fairies flew on ahead.

"Are you sure you wanna go through with this?" Stella looked less than pleased at the plan.

"I have to speak to the Ancestresses if i'm ever gonna find out what happened to Sparx and my parents!" Bloom replied determinedly.

"So you're not looking for me fairies?" A purple hologram suddenly materialised in front of them of an all too familiar face.

"Baltor!" Bloom stopped in her tracks and clenched her fists. "I am gonna-"

"Save it Bloom. I'm not interested." The wizard's image cut in dryly. "I only want one thing from you, the Silver Imperium Crystal!"

"But we don't have the Crystal!" The fire fairy exclaimed. "It's just a legend!"

"Wrong again, fairies. I know for a fact that it is real and is guarded by Sailor Moon!"

"Huh?" The winx took a step back.

"So that's why she's so powerful!" Layla realised.

"But we don't know anything about Sailor Moon!" Bloom said to Baltor's projection. "And if we did we wouldn't tell you!"

"Not even to save your little friend!? Serena was it?"

"Serena?" Bloom stopped.

"What have you done with her?" Stella exclaimed.

"Oh she's quite safe, for now!" Baltor linked his fingers together. "All you have to do is find Sailor Moon and the Crystal and bring her to me and i'll let Serena go! I'd start looking now if i were you, i don't like to keep waiting!"

000

As soon as he terminated the image Baltor sat back in his chair. "Of course Bloom and her friends would have to know her," He reasoned. "She's already saved them multiple times and she and i haven't exactly been on good terms. It'll save me the extra bother of trying to hunt her down myself!" He winced as he reached for a small tube of magical ointment. Carefully he dipped a cotton bud in the clear mixture and applied it to one of his bleeding ears.

"That brat!" He grit his teeth as his ear slowly began to return back to normal. "She's got to be from the Harmonic Nebula, the realm that's tone deaf!"

000

"Oh man! Ms F trusted us to look after her!" Bloom groaned as the hologram disappeared from view.

"So how are we gonna bust her out?" Musa looked to her leader for ideas. "Baltor's probably put loads of his best defence spells where he's keeping her!"

"I don't know but we'll need a plan!" Bloom got out her Magix cell phone after they had detransformed.

"Hey Sky? It's me Bloom! Can you and the guys meet us outside Alfea?"

000

"So Baltor's captured Serena?" The prince of Erakylon asked, repeating what he and the other Specialists had just heard as the group sat on the edge of the forest outside the pink school.

"Yeah! And unless we find Sailor Moon he won't set her free!" Stella finished. "And i don't think he's after her meatball pigtails!"

"Well knowing Baltor he'd probably renege on the deal anyway!" Tecna frowned, tapping various keys on her phone.

"We can't let Ms Faragonda find out we lost her!" Bloom exclaimed. "We've got to get into Cloud Tower again as soon as possible!"

"Couldn't we just... sneak in and bust her out like how you girls always sneak in there anyway?" Riven remarked. After all it was what the fairies usually did, including the time they had followed Bloom's plan of rushing in there to get a shot at the wizard because Tecna had trapped herself in the Omega portal.

"We don't "just sneak in"!" Musa narrowed her eyes.

Bloom turned to the pinkette next to her. "Tecna have you made any progress on figuring out how to track Sailor Moon?"

Tecna shook her head sadly. "No matter what i try something's always blocking her magic trail!"

"But wait, i'm confused!" Timmy held up a hand. "You girls aren't actually to going to give Baltor Sailor Moon, are you?"

"Of course not!" Bloom exclaimed. "If anything we've got to try and convince her to help us beat him! But we need to at least make him believe that we have her until we get Serena back!"

"Maybe if we can make a fake Sailor Moon we can exchange it for Serena!" Layla suggested. "And we can also get a fake crystal!"

"That's a great idea Layla!" Stella beamed. "You leave that to me!" With a few bursts of yellow energy from her fingers she conjured up a life size figure of the blonde Senshi. However the girl's outfit contrasted immensely to the real fuku, as the normally white boots and gloves were a garish glittery pink as well as the bottom two layers of the skirt. Instead of the golden heart shaped brooch on her chest there was a sideways crescent moon studded with rhinestones and the main body of the dress had been divided into a white bikini top with a yellow sailor collar (instead of blue) and a yellow miniskirt with the two pink layers underneath. It was quite important to note that the skirt was also considerably shorter than its real life counterpart, though the white mask was still securely plastered over the puppet's eyes. As soon as it was fully formed, the mannequin flopped lifelessly onto the ground. The fairies and Specialists stared at it for a moment.

"Stella! Sailor Moon has white boots and gloves, not pink!" Bloom exclaimed, gesturing to the accessories in question.

"But the outfit looks so much better like that!" The Solarian pouted. "Fine i'll change them back!" She snapped her fingers, turning them to their original colour.

"Wait," Brandon had noticed the mask was slightly lopsided and removed it to reveal the almost blank face. "She doesn't have any eyes!"

"Well, i never saw what her eyes looked like!" Stella retorted. "Just as long as she keeps the mask on it should be fine!"

"It'll have to do," Bloom sighed. "Let's just get to Cloud Tower!"

"Poor Serena!" Flora said worriedly. "I can't imagine how scared she must be right now!"

000

"This is such a rubbish kidnapping!" Serena complained, looking around the small space that she had. "There's not even any TV! Most of my other kidnappers had TV! If only Valtor had just cleared off without leaving back up i could just bust out! But..." She looked outside her bars with a grimace.

Icy was standing outside the cell. But she was wearing a completely different outfit from the suit Serena had always seen her wear. All she was wearing was a navy bikini with matching boots and bracelets. An almost see through blue scarf was wrapped around her waist in a feeble attempt to cover up what already left very little to the imagination, it matched the sky coloured eye shadow that looked like it had been thrown across both sides of her face with a thick paintbrush.

However, despite its sleazy appearance (the Winx wore stuff just as revealing) the outfit was not what disconcerted Serena. That honour belonged to the girl's crimson eyes that were currently staring straight at the wall in front of the witch as she stood there like she had been programmed to do so. At least she wasn't doing anything, for now, unlike when Baltor had summoned her.

**A few minutes ago**

_"Aagh!" Baltor was crouching at the far end of the dungeon with his gloved hands clamped tightly over his ears while Serena wailed at the top of her voice._

_"WAAAAA! I WANNA GO HOMEEEEE! SOMEBODY HELP MEEEEE!" She screeched, two waterfalls spouting from her eyes for believability._

_Baltor was inwardly cursing for not giving himself time to react quicker and cast a silencing spell while he had the chance. But that wretched girl had caught him off guard._

_"I'M LEAVING!" He shouted above the noise. "I can't take this awful noise any longer!" Then he allowed himself to grin. "But don't worry, i'll make sure you won't be on your own! ICY!" He commanded, making Serena stop in her tracks._

_Instantly the white haired witch appeared in a blur of blue lines, wearing what appeared to be the witch version of Enchantix. Serena's eyes widened at the crazed expression on her face._

_"Stay here and guard Serena, you are not to do otherwise unless i say so!" Baltor instructed her firmly._

_"Icy"'s mouth shot upward into a smile that made Serena think of the Joker if he had tried illegal substances. "Yes 'master'". She said it in a perfectly normal tone but there appeared to be a lower, almost metallic tinge to her voice that did not go unnoticed by Serena. It also seemed slightly mocking but if it was Baltor did not sense it._

_"Good. Well i'll be out of here," With that he promptly teleported away where he would be safe from Serena's vocal cords._

_As soon as he was gone Serena gave a small sigh._

_"YOU HEAR THAT BRAT?!"_

_"AAH!" Serena jumped as Icy seemed to twist around 180 degrees with a psychotic glare, her crimson irises seemed to burn from the inside._

_"Eep!" Serena dove into a corner of her cell with her back to the barred door so she wouldn't have to look at the horror outside._

**A few minutes later**

"Now how am i supposed to get out of here?" The Moon Princess thought. "What options have i got…"

**possible plan**

_Serena jumps up and points at Icy through the bars of her cell and shouts at the top of her voice._

_Serena: WITCH! SHE'S A WITCH!_

_A crowd of stuart witch finders hurry into the room chanting "witch! witch! witch! witch!" They carry Icy offscreen. Serena opens her cell door and walks away. _

**end of possible plan**

"Nah, how would i know that would work?" She sighed with a shake of her head. She turned back to Icy who was still standing rigidly outside the cell.

"Jeez she looks like one of those creepy Freddy Fazbear animatronics!" Serena shuddered. How had this once defiant and fearless witch become such a soulless shell? She didn't like to think about what the chaos inside her had done, or even what Baltor had done. She had promised Darcy and Stormy that she would get their sister back, but for now she had to work out a way out of here if she and the girls were ever going to get rid of Baltor.

She looked to the brick wall behind her. "Figures there wouldn't be any windows," She sighed. "That means i gotta bust those bars!" She conjured a small orb of white energy and threw it at the metal strips. The magic bounced straight off the surface and slammed straight into the wall as she dodged out the way.

"So this must be some of that dark magic they keep talking about!" She muttered. Clearly it was going to take more than the simple spells she had learnt to break this barrier.

"Hold on," She edged into the corner of the cell where Icy couldn't see and pulled out her brooch. She flipped it open to reveal the Silver Crystal.

_"I hold in my hands the most powerful object in the Cosmos!"_ She thought, feeling its soothing aura strengthen her own as she closed her eyes. _"This amount of light should be a match for any form of darkness!"_

Sitting cross legged on the floor with the Crystal in the palm of her hands she focused her energy and began to channel a stream of Silver magic around her. With her eyes still shut she focused the stream at the cell bars. Sure enough the dark magic barrier and even the metal itself began to melt away leaving a nice clear space to stroll out.

Serena slowly opened her eyes to form a happy smile. It actually worked! Not thinking about the new sensation of metal on both her wrists she got up and ran to the entrance before walking out of the confined space. Upon looking to one side she cringed at the sight of Icy on her knees with her hands clamped tightly over her eyes and shaking uncontrollably.

_"No,"_ She was moaning almost inaudibly. _"Y-you can't,"_

"Icy?" She tentatively reached out a hand. However she jumped back startled as Icy instantly snapped up, giving a Serena a good look at her now crimson irises.

_"How did you get out?!"_ she snapped in a voice that sounded slightly metallic._ "You'll pay for defying me fairy!"_

Serena frowned. "I highly doubt that Icy, or should i say Chaos? Either way i've had enemies way more threatening than you and i'm going to stop whatever twisted plan you've got going on!"

_"You think you can stop me?! I am Belladonna, the oldest of the three ancestresses!"_ Icy/Chaos proclaimed. _"What can you, a weak little fairy do against my infinite powers?!"_

_"I can't transform in front of her!"_ Serena thought in a panic. _"Huh?"_ She had only now realised her new accessories as one of her sleeves fell back to reveal a silver Galactic bracelet.

_"They must've appeared when i used the crystal!"_ She thought with a grin. "Then they should boost my powers when i'm not transformed!"

"I'm sorry Icy," Serena looked away. "But if i'm going to keep my promise," She shot a stream of positive silver energy from one hand that hit Icy/Belladonna in the chest and knocked her to the floor. Serena hastily pulled her sleeves back over her bracelets before taking one last look at the unconscious witch. If she wanted to save her then she was going to have to make her escape now.

"What are you doing out of your cell?!"

"Huh?" She whirled her head around in shock to see Baltor standing there with a look of raged surprise.

"You stay back!" Serena quickly whipped put her water star and flashed it in front of Baltor, making him stumble a few feet back and fall against the wall. Taking full use of the few moments where he was down she ran out of the room as fast as she could. Once she had legged it up a few stairs she quickly activated her teleport.

_"Please come quickly girls!"_ She begged silently.

000

Ami was sitting on her bed flicking through the channels of German television with the lamp on her desk as the only source of light in the room. She'd finished all her coursework early but for some reason she felt on edge and was trying to find a way to distract herself.

"Huh?" The water star on her desk was glowing a bright gold, filling the dimly lit room with light.

Cautiously she picked it up to find that it did not burn her, on the contrary it felt pleasantly cool against the palm of her hand. But she knew the signal. Flipping open her teleport she pressed the button.

000

"Where should these go?" Stormy asked as she carefully controlled a small tornado filled with autumn leaves.

"In the pile to your right," Raye called as she raked the leaves by her feet.

Stormy nodded and guided the tornado to the third pile of leaves and carefully set them down on the top.

"Great job!" Raye beamed. "That should do it for today!"

"I can't believe Stormy already has more control!" Darcy gave a small laugh from her chair on the porch. A thick blanket was tucked around her lap. "Huh?" She turned to the small table next to her where Raye had put the water star.

"Raye! Come quickly!" She called.

"What is it?" Raye came hurrying up with Stormy following closely.

"The water star! It's glowing!" Darcy pointed to the object.

Raye quickly turned to the two witches. "I'm gonna have to go now," She said seriously. "Darcy you're in charge-"

"What?! No fair she's an invalid!" Stormy complained.

"-Tell Grandpa and Chad i've got to visit the girls, hopefully they won't ask when i'll be back," Raye continued as if Stormy hadn't spoken as she pulled back her sleeve to open her teleport.

"Raye," Darcy began quietly as the raven haired miko began pressing her coordinates. "Be careful."

Raye turned to them with a smile. "Don't worry about me! It's Baltor who should be worried! I'll come back soon."

And with that her teleport activated, making her disappear in a matter of shimmering seconds.

000

Having finally snatched a moment to herself Lita was quietly watering the many potted plants in her apartment while some catchy K-POP songs aired on the radio. She smiled softly as she carefully sprinkled water into the nearest pot containing some small white cyclamens. One day she'd own a huge flower shop that would be filled with every kind of beautiful and exotic vegetation. And she'd be able to make bouquets for all sorts of celebrations from birthdays to weddings.

Giving her pink watering can a shake she frowned at how light it felt. However as she went over to the tap to refill it something caught her eye.

"Huh?" She placed the watering can on the ground and picked up her golden star from its bowl.

"Guess i'd better get going!" She exclaimed, turning of her radio with a quick zap of electricity from her index finger before reaching for her communicator.

000

Somewhere in America Mina was sitting at her laptop with Marik playing an online duel against the computer who was using a windup deck.

"Hmm," She looked at the cards in her hand on the screen. "Oma a mystical shine ball! Can't use it though- i need something stronger!"

"Use the one on the right," Marik whispered in her ear.

"That one?" Mina made a face as she looked at the Agent of Mystery- Earth. "But it doesn't have nearly enough attack points! If i can't get master Hyperion out soon i'll get creamed!"

"But your magi card Sanctuary in the Sky is already face down on the field." Marik told her. "If you play it then summon Agent of Mystery Earth then you can add Master Hyperion to your hand!"

"Ok i summon Agent of- huh?" The sudden flash of gold from behind caught their attention and they turned around to see a golden aura around Mina's chest of drawers.

Cautiously Mina crept over to it and pulled it open to reveal her water star that she had hidden among her socks.

_"The signal," _She whispered before turning back to Marik. "I gotta go," She said, turning away to grab her handbag so that she could shove in her transformation stick and her disguise scrunchie.

"I loaded the mini fridge with snacks and you can use any of my video games if you get bored. If i do have to stay overnight please tape the next episode of Legend of Korra so i can watch it when i get back, but hopefully i shouldn't take too long…"

"Wait," He touched her shoulder, making her stop in her tracks to look up at him and see that he was holding her communicator. "You're going to fight that wizard again aren't you?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Mina gave a small laugh as she took the device and strapped it to her wrist. "But this time all the girls will be there! And you saw how i took him down last time! It'll totally be a breeze!"

She was taken aback as he quickly hugged her. "Please come back soon," He whispered.

"Of course," Mina replied, returning the gesture. She was prepared to delay her journey a little if this was to be her payoff.

"Here's something for extra power," Before she could say anything he kissed her on the cheek.

"Uwaaa!" She became flustered as her face flushed red as her ribbon. She tried pouting but couldn't get her facial features to cooperate. He hadn't really discovered her feelings, had he?

"And to remind you to come back," He smirked.

"Would i really do otherwise?" She gave a big smile despite her face still being bright red. _"Way to go Mina chan, He knows!"_ The little voice in her head shouted at her as her teleport finally kicked in.

000

"What's taking them so long?" Riven complained as the Specialists stood by their hover bikes in a clearing in the forest.

"You need to chill out, the girls know what they're doing!" Brandon replied.

"I know, but something just doesn't feel right, you know?" The pink haired specialist gave a small shiver as he folded his arms. Indeed the weather at that moment was rather foggy, lacing the air around them with a fine silver mist.

"It's probably nothing," Sky said dismissively. He turned to the only wizard in their group, who was inspecting his golden staff. "Ophir, do you think you can do something about this fog?"

"I can try but i don't think it'll make much of a difference!" Ophir shrugged apologetically.

"I rather like it!" Helia had got out his sketchbook and was making a few pencilled drawings of the wavy images the mists gave to his mind.

"Of course you wo- wait what's that?" Riven was startled by a sudden movement above them. The others had sensed it too and immediately leapt to their feet.

"Did you guys hear that?" Timmy asked nervously, holding his weapon out in front of him.

CAW! Suddenly a huge mutant raven monster swooped out of the clouds and dived straight for them! It had sprung out of nowhere so fast they barely had time to react.

Zoom! A crimson rose shot straight from the shadows and stopped the monster right in its tracks.

"Huh?" They turned around to see a tall sophisticated young man in a tuxedo and Top Hat walk out of the mists, holding a fistful of roses.

"Excuse me, i was wondering if you could give me some directions?" He asked in a polite yet cool manner.

"D-did you just throw roses?" Sky looked at the man in disbelief.

"Get with the times dude!" Brandon exclaimed with a laugh. This earned him a scratch to the face as a rose was swiftly slung in his direction.

"No one mocks my weapon choice." Tuxedo Mask said coldly. "Now would you gentlemen be so kind as to point me in the direction of the Cloud Tower castle?"

"Yes sir," They answered nervously.

000

"We're here Baltor! And we've brought Sailor Moon!" Bloom announced loud and clear as she and the Winx arrived at the edge of the forest with the life size puppet of the Senshi.

"Bloom! Girls! Wait up!" They turned around to see the specialists running towards them.

"Sky? What's going on?" Bloom asked, confused.

"We saw this strange guy," Sky began but was interrupted by the sound of loud screams and flashes of magical light.

"That sounds like Serena!" Flora exclaimed as everyone ran over to where the commotion was coming from.

When they got there they found that Baltor had trapped Serena in a dark force field barrier and that the blonde was on her hands and knees to avoid the blasts of wind swirling around her. _"Rookie spell,"_ No one heard her whisper.

"Baltor let her go!" Bloom was horrified.

Baltor's eyes flashed. "I'll release her if Sailor Moon shows up! Now where is she fairies?"

"Right here!" Stella pushed forward the puppet. Baltor raised an eyebrow.

"You honestly expect me to believe that? You couldn't even get the skirt colour right!"

"Well... she had a makeover!" Stella pouted.

"Come on out Sailor Moon! I know you're out there!" Baltor called. Serena grit her teeth. She didn't know how much more of this she could take.

"Damn right she is, and so are we!"

"Huh?" Serena's face broke into a big smile at the sound of a familiar voice. Sure enough, not one, but five people appeared from their various hiding places.

"So this is the guy who thinks he's so tough!" Sailor Jupiter exclaimed as she jumped out from behind a tree and struck a pose. "On behalf of Jupiter i'd be glad to take him down a peg or two!"

"The wisdom of Mercury is no match for your stolen goods!" Sailor Mercury wagged a finger sternly.

"If you've hurt our BFF you're gonna have a bad time!" Venus glared. "In the name of Venus i'll kick your butt again!"

"Haha classic V!" Serena shook her head with a smile. It was typical of her blonde friend not to forget the 'again'.

"And i'm Tuxedo Mask!" Tuxedo Mask leapt down from one of the tower's turrets and landed gracefully on his feet, his cape fling out behind him. "And you are no gentleman! How dare you kidnap my girlfriend!" He brandished his cane.

"That's the guy!" Brandon whispered loudly.

"But you still need to meet our leader! Come on Serena! Do it now!" Mars urged.

"Serena?" The winx turned around to see her standing up right in the middle of the force field, her pigtails whipping out behind her in the howling wind enclosed in the small space.

"You idiot…" The winx whirled around in surprise as Serena touched her brooch with a snarl. "You can't kill me to get Sailor Moon, because I AM SAILOR MOON! MOON ETERNAL POWER!"


	23. Operation sneaky sneak

The dark barrier exploded in a large stream of white light as everyone saw that Serena had disappeared and was now replaced by the famed fearless Senshi. However this time her mask had not appeared with the rest of her fuku, meaning that everyone had a clear view of her face.

"SHE'S SAILOR MOON?!" Bloom gasped in shock.

"SERENA?" Layla exclaimed.

"That did so not just happen!" Stella's eyes were wide as saucers.

"B-But that's impossible!" Tecna stuttered.

"NO WAY!" Musa exclaimed.

"Now stand before me mortal!" Sailor Moon struck her pose as the crescent moon on her forehead glinted in the light. "For I am Sailor Moon! Champion of Love and Justice! And I don't take nicely to being kidnapped! On behalf of the Moon I'll punish you!"

"Ready everyone?" She turned around to the Sailor Scouts and Tuxedo Mask.

"Weapons readying!" Venus grinned as she pulled out her water star and the others did the same.

"Right!" Sailor Moon held out her own water star as energy started to flow from her wrists. "Let's send this guy back to oblivion!"

"Agh!" Baltor was taken aback to see all six Senshi holding out their water stars! There was no way he could attack now.

"Sorry Sailor Moon but not today," He was able to shoot one wicked grin before teleporting away.

"... FREAKING COWARD!" Venus exploded. "THAT'S THE SECOND TIME! WHAT AN APPLE!" Her fingers were twitching madly as were her eyelids.

"Venus," Moon gave a soft chuckle at her friends reaction as it slowly sunk in that the gang were reunited once more.

"Everyone!" She started to run towards them for a big group hug.

"Ok can someone tell us what's going on?"

Their reunion was rudely interrupted as they turned to see the fairies and specialists staring at them, bewildered.

"Uh… nope!" Moon stuck her tongue out and ran to her friends anyway, almost knocking Mercury and Jupiter to the floor. However said Senshi didn't mind at all and laughed along with her.

"What up ladies?!" She exclaimed happily.

"We missed you girl!" Jupiter clasped her hands excitedly.

"It's so good to see you Sailor Moon!" Mercury smiled warmly.

"It's been sooo long hon!" Venus raised her hands for a high ten.

"I swear we only talked a few days ago," Raye remarked but couldn't hide the broad grin on her face.

"Agh but so much has happened since then!" Venus gushed, jumping up and down on her tippy toes. "I've just got to tell you guys something and its super urgent!"

"Only if we talk about it over food!" Moon looked down at her flat stomach as it gave an uncomfortable growl. "I haven't eaten in days!"

"Oh rly?" Mars scoffed. "You can't go half an hour without eating something! Onetime you even got delirious and couldn't tell what you were eating!"

**flashback**

_Serena is trudging through a park with the girls and some other friends. She looks like she__'__s about to faint. _

_Yugi (looks to Raye with concern): Is Serena ok?_

_Raye (sighs): She__'__s fine, she just hasn__'__t eaten for 45 minutes!_

_Tea looks in their bag of food they have with them and takes out a riceball._

_Tea (smiles): Here! It__'__ll make you feel better!_

_Serena (sparkly eyes): Thank you thank you!_

_She holds the rice ball and takes a big bite. The others look at her as she chews the food with a strange expression. _

_Serena: This rice ball tastes like an ice cream sandwich__… __(shrugs) Oh well, i like ice cream sandwiches! _

_She continues to eat while the others look confused. _

_Tea: But i was sure i packed rice balls__…_

**end flashback **

"Please, that's nothing compared to the wine incident." Venus said dismissively.

"You're not going anywhere!"

"Huh?" The sudden order made them all turn around in surprise, Moon's shoulders sagged as she saw the Winx were still there.

Bloom stepped forward. "You've sure got a lot of explaining to do, _Serena_!"

Sailor Moon sighed, she should have been more prepared for this to happen, but she had tried to hard to keep her Senshi name a secret and to avoid more unnecessary attention.

She was pulled from her thoughts by a comforting hand on her shoulder and couldn't help giving small smile at Tuxedo Mask, whose expression reassured her that the situation wasn't her fault.

"Do i really?" She enquired with her newfound confidence.

"Uh, Yeah!" Musa snorted as is it was obvious. "Like, why didn't you lie about Sailor Moon, why didn't you tell us about the Silver Crystal and why haven't you tried to help us defeat Baltor?!"

"Oh what are we now, chopped lungs?" Venus exclaimed, gesturing at herself, Mercury, Mars and Jupiter. "Frankly… i'm insulted." She stated matter-of-factly, shaking her head.

"Erm, Sailor Venus, the phrase is chopped liver." Mercury corrected quietly.

"I know what i said," Venus interrupted calmly.

"Mina? Is that you?" Stella squinted at the blonde Senshi with a look of wonder.

"Bitch i might be." Venus deadpanned with a poker face.

"I can't believe you Serena, i thought we could hang out, and you've been keeping secrets from us all this time?!" Bloom rounded in on the Moon Princess, who sweatdropped.

"That's not fair!" Moon exclaimed. "Our world is a scary place guys! If anyone, i mean anyone knew my identity they would've been number one on my enemies hit list! I kept my secret to protect people!"

"You still should've talked about it!" Bloom continued, not noticing the threatening snarls of the Sailor Scouts."You lied to us and faked your identity, you're no better than Baltor!"

"I-er…" Serena looked down sadly. She felt like she'd been hit pretty below the belt on that one.

"Hey, you mess with her you mess with me orange!" Venus stood protectively in front of Serena and cracked her knuckles.

"That's right, she's over 9000 times the fighter you'll ever be!" Jupiter scowled, her emerald eyes flashing dangerously like lightning.

"She's definitely more of a match than your so called fighters!" Tuxedo Mask added cooly.

"Hey! Take that back!"

"No one makes fun of our girls!"

"Hmm?" The Prince of Earth turned around to see all six specialists and wizard assuming battle stances in front of him.

With a simple swish of his cane he sent a huge gust of wind their way, knocking them off their feet. Before they could attempt to move, a flurry of crimson roses shot towards them, pinning them to the ground. He then produced a red button from inside his cape and pressed it with a smile. "That was easy" It said.

"You're lucky i didn't use the electroshock roses," He said darkly.

"If you won't help us beat Baltor, we'll have to take you back with us!" Bloom scowled. Moon's eyes widened as she saw the fire fairy prepare a spell to knock her out!

"SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!" In the end it was Sailor Mercury who lost her temper, and sent a huge wave in the fairies direction, knocking them to the ground next to the specialists.

"MERCURY BUBBLES BLAST!" The blue Senshi promptly created a mist of foam around them, making the winx disappear from view.

"Quickly everyone, we have to go now!" She said urgently.

The others nodded and activated their teleports right before the mists cleared, leaving the sodden fairies staring blankly at thin air.

000

As soon as the gang had safely teleported into the Alfea dormitory Serena ran into her room, the others following closely. "Luna! We've got a problem!" She cried.

"Ok, tell me right now," Luna replied seriously, before looking around at the group. "Is Artemis with you?"

"… I knew i forgot something." Mina remarked. Everyone looked at her with sweatdrops. "What? He'll be fine!" She waved them off. "But we've got to do this now!" She turned their attentions back to the present.

**A few minutes later**

"So now these girls know who you really are?!" Luna exclaimed once Serena finished telling the story.

"Yeah but she didn't exactly have a choice!" Lita backed her up. "It was the only way she could escape that barrier!"

"No one thinks this situation is ideal," Darien added. "What's important now is that we get Serena out of here where she'll be safe from _them_." He gave a small growl, clenching his fists as he remembered the spiteful comments his future Queen had had to endure. Serena took one of his hands with a small smile.

"Must… resist… urge… to choke… bitches!" Mina contorted her body in apparent agony trying to control her anger. No one appeared to notice.

"Good idea." Luna said. "We should go somewhere more private, those girls will probably be back any second!"

"Ok but first i gotta pack! I need to make sure every trace of me is gone before they get back!" Serena exclaimed. She got out her suitcase and uttered an incantation that made all her possessions fold neatly into the bag. Once everything had been safely secured she snapped her fingers and shrunk all her bags, before tucking them into her pockets.

"Whoa." Everyone stared at her wide eyed. "Coolll…" Mina's sky blue orbs sparkled in wonder.

"You have got to teach us that technique!" Lita grabbed her hands excitedly.

"You've finally learned how to pack things neatly!" Ami beamed in approval.

"Could've used that when you helped those guys move house!" Raye shook her head.

**flashback**

_Serena stands with a tall man in a red leather jumpsuit and white boots with meticulously styled hair looking at a tower of clothes on top of an open suitcase. _

_Serena (sweatdrops): Vince are you sure you need everything here!_

_Vince Noir: Of course! I gotta be prepared for the latest trends! _

_Serena picks up a neck ruff and holds it up in front of them._

_Serena: Since when does anyone wear this?_

_Vince (snatches it back): Oi, Cheekbones magazine predicts that the Elizabethan ruff will make a comeback sometime this year! _

_A Ninja sneaks in through the open window and hands him a copy of the magazine before disappearing back the way they came. The image of a scaly man-fish in a silver jacket and pink tutu is on the front cover._

_Vince (notices Serena staring): What? It__'__s so exclusive it__'__s updated every three hours! (He looks at an article) Hey, it says the meatball hair style will be huge in june! But it__'__s even better with neon streaks!_

_Serena: Ooh! Let me see?_

_They slack off from trying to pack by looking at the magazine. _

**end flashback**

000

Once they had found a secluded corner of the courtyard they sat down under a tree on a large pink blanket Serena had conjured up.

"Ok if we're ever going to get home we've got to beat Baltor!" Raye said seriously. "If anything it'll shut them up!"

"I told you guys," Mina rolled her eyes with a loud sigh. "We can always use my plan! Water stars versus the dragon fire! It's super effective! Trust me, i know!"

"But that's not the only issue here!" Ami said. "Serena, didn't you say that there were 3 pieces of chaos that tried to possess two of the witches? If that's the case we'll have to get rid of them too!"

"Guys," Serena bit her lip. "Something's telling me it's not gonna be that simple!"

Everyone looked at her. "What do you mean?" Lita asked.

"I've taken out pieces of chaos individually but i didn't get rid of them for good and i didn't do it alone!" Serena explained. "The first time, somehow my pixie gave me a power boost,- i'll show you guys if we can find the pixie houses," Serena explained to their looks of interest at the mention of the creature.

"And the second time, Marik was able to separate the piece from Stormy so it was without its host," She continued.

"While i was kicking ass!" Mina cut in cheerfully, before giving a small gasp. "Ohhh that was when you guys were stuck in that barrier thingy!" She pointed at Serena. "I wanted to get you guys out of there but that stupid baka wouldn't let me!" She clenched a fist.

"But all of us are here now!" Lita smiled reassuringly. "And if these guys are weaker than our old enemies we can totally take them!"

"But now Baltor knows who you really are!" Darien spoke up. "Which is why we've got to destroy him as soon as possible before he can tell anyone." he put an arm around Serena, who clasped his hand, locking their fingers together.

"Oh please, after everything we faced? He has to be the 8th most threatening thing ever!" The Princess of Venus scoffed.

"8th? Whats the other thing?" Serena asked confused.

"You've never had to take a taxi ride with Yami Bakura." Mina shuddered, looking truly disturbed.

000

Somewhere in Eraklyon a golden haired princess sat, locked in a prison cell. Contrary to the popular fairytales it was more of a basement than a tower. And the princess hadn't been locked away because she was in danger, as far as everyone was concerned, she was the danger.

Giving an irritated sigh Diaspro got up and made her way over to the grimy mirror that was glued to one of the stone cell walls. At least she didn't look too worse for the wear yet. She wasn't even a citizen of Erakylon, surely her parents would fight to get her taken back home to planet Quartz?

Absent-mindedly she twirled one of her golden ringlets. What was the use? Everyone was on the side of that stupid fairy Bloom, and even Sky was starting to seem unruly, far from the image of a prince she had been brought up to marry.

"Princess Diaspro, so lovely to see you again."

"Baltor?" She whirled around at the sight of his reflection in the mirror to glare at him. "What do you want! You're just as bad as that stupid Bloom who ruined my life!"

"But don't you want to escape from this place?" He said smoothly, conjuring up a key and gesturing to the unconscious guards outside the cell. "Because that can easily be arranged."

000

"It's so weird how their boyfriends are like their genderbent selves," Raye frowned as she observed the winx and specialists from a safe distance as they arrived back at Alfea. "And whose the guy with the pointy pink hair?"

"That's Ribbon, Musica's boyfriend! They argue all the time," Mina filled her in through a mouthful of green tea flavoured pocky.

"Oh my Ares that's the guy?!" Raye suddenly burst out laughing. Everyone stared at her.

"Wait, do you know something? Does that mean you got some dirt for me?" Mina rounded in on her immediately.

"I'm sorry," Raye wiped her eyes as she regained her composure. "It was something the witches told me. but it was dirt alright!"

**Flashback**

_Darcy is lying in bed while Raye takes her temperature._

_Raye: Your fever's going down, just try to sleep it off!_

_Darcy: Thanks Raye, you should go finish your work, i'll be ok by myself__!_

_Raye shakes her head."Not until i'm sure." (She winks) Besides, already got Chad to do the extra chores!_

_Darcy turns onto her side with a small grin. "Nice! You handle your boyfriend like a true witch!"_

_Raye scowls. "He's not my boyfriend! Wait, so do you have one? Do witches just hypnotise the guy they like into going out with them?"_

_Darcy looks down. "There was just the one guy, but it didn't work out. He was pretty cute though!"_

_Raye looks at her excitedly. "So? What was he like? Spill the details!__"_

_Darcy takes a deep breath. "His name was Riven,"_

_Suddenly Stormy bursts into the room, with a pile of sheets in her arms. "Are you talking about that broody little lug from Red Fountain?" She demands, dumping the sheets on the floor and placing her hands on her hips. "You totally have bad taste in guys D!"_

_"At least i've had some action, squirt!" Darcy shoots back at Stormy who sits on the bed to sulk._

_Raye looks surprised. "Red Fountain? I thought you'd be more into the hunky badboy type!"_

_"He was that type!" Darcy counterracts. "But certain someones," She shoots a small glare at Stormy. "Wanted to drop everything else and go for the Dragon Fire!__"_

"_Jeez if he meant that much to you, you should have said something!__" __The frizzy haired witch says, starting to play with her short wavy ponytail so her sister won__'__t see her slightly apologetic look. _

_"I'm over it." Darcy shrugs. "He was always too much of a goody goody anyway!"_

"_So what happened to him?__" __Raye asks. _

"_Ugh now he's dating a fairy!__" __Stormy shudders. __"__And she's totally the most annoying of those Winx club losers!__"_

_"But no matter what she says, i was there first!" Darcy says wisely._

_"So you mean,__" __Raye slowly starts to smile. _

_"Musa's got Darcy's sloppy seconds!" Stormy laughs._

**End flashback**

"O.M.A." Mina said with wide eyes as Raye finished the story. "BEST. INFO. EVER!" She immediately got out her phone and started tapping in notes on how and when she could work in her upcoming jokes.

"But seriously, if we're really gonna do anything we need to bust this joint as soon as possible!" Raye started to talk strategically.

"I agree, we need a change of scene to make our plans and where the fairies won't keep interrupting us every five minutes." Ami got out her computer and tapped a few keys.

"Sooo back to Earth?" Serena said.

"Surely there's gotta be a better solution than that!" Lita frowned, she didn't like the idea of Magix bringing their battle to the Senshi's home planet that so far had not been caught in the conflict.

"How about one of these other realms in this dimension?" Darien suggested. "I found this in the reception, there's so many it'll take them ages to look for us!"

"Ooh how 'bout this one!" Mina excitedly held up a poster of a cheerful looking land, inhabited by a variety of colourful creatures, even some that appeared to be made of candy.

Everyone facepalmed.

"Seriously?!" Raye exclaimed.

"What? Loads of other princesses go there, we'll fit right in!" Mina argued.

"You just picked it because it said there was free wi-fi." Ami deadpanned, making her sweatdrop.

"What about this "resort realm Galeria?" Lita had found an article on what looked like a giant resort. "It says here it has everything! Beaches, ski mountains- even a giant mall!"

"But wait, doesn't it say people can't use magic there?" Ami had spotted some fineprint.

"Only for those at the stage known as the 'Magic winx' level!" Raye said. "I think it's safe to say we're way higher up than that!"

"I still wanted to go to the land of ooo," Mina sulked.

"Let's go there, I for one can't wait to get out of this place!" Darien sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Me too," Luna nodded. "It'll be a good place to think of a plan!"

"Yeah but you know what this means?" Serena said slyly.

"VACATION!" The girls squealed excitedly in unison.

"Now all we need to do is get into the town and go there before they catch us." The Moon Princess rubbed her chin.

"I can handle it. Gimme a few minutes." Mina said quickly and determinedly.

"Somehow i don't feel right doing the ideas of someone who got their knowledge of British History from anime!" Raye said.

**Flashback**

_The girls are all sitting in a history lesson. The history teacher is walking up the desks, handing back homework. When he approaches Mina, she sweat drops nervously at his unamused expression. _

_Teacher: Minako, did you honestly write that Jack the Ripper was a transgendered Grim Reaper with long red hair?_

_Mina: No, i said that Jack the Ripper was made up of two people, one half was the grim reaper and the other half was a wealthy woman called Madam Red who wanted to get revenge for the fact that she couldn__'__t have any children. But sir no one knew who Jack the Ripper was! It__'__s possible!_

_Teacher: (Sigh) That argument could have been passable if you hadn__'__t gone on to write that Queen Victoria was killed by a transgendered fallen angel who then created, as you call it, __"__The Great fire of London 2.0.__" __This gets an F and you a spot in after school detention. _

_Mina: (Jumps up and raises a fist to the ceiling) ASSSHHHH! Or maybe it was Angela__…_

**End flashback**

"I knew that stupid angel would ruin my plan." Mina grumbled. "But face it guys, we need to do this today and i'm the best you've got! Are you in?"

"Of course! I know i can always count on you Mina chan!" Serena gave her a huge hug from the side.

"Me too!" Lita threw her arms around them both.

"You're one of the strongest people i know." Ami smiled as she joined in the hug.

The three of them looked to the last Senshi standing. "C'mon Raye chan! Don't leave me hanging!" Mina gave a cheesy grin.

Raye sighed but she couldn't help smiling. "Looks like i've been outvoted!" She ran over and got in between Ami and Mina. Darien placed his arms around Serena's neck from behind, completing the large group hug.

"Ok!" Mina beamed. "Now all you have to do is meet me outside the gates of the school in exactly one hour! Think you can do that?"

000

One hour later The girls and Darien stood outside the school perimeter, right in front of the gates.

"Are you sure you guys don't want to have a go with my disguise pen?" Serena whispered. She had already used it to transform herself into an almost carbon copy of the famed female duellist Mai Valentine, her blonde hair arranged in glamourous waist length waves.

"Nah we'll be fine!" Raye waved it off.

"No one saw us transform so we aren't in any danger of being found!" Ami explained.

"Lucky, how does she wear this skirt?! It keeps riding up!" The Moon Princess complained as she tried to pull the tight miniskirt over her legs.

"Maybe you should stick to wearing your usual outfits." Darien advised gently, sensing her discomfort.

Serena blushed. "Does that mean you prefer how i look-"

"Hey there!"

"Agh!" Once again they were interrupted by the winx as they walked up to the gates to talk to them.

"Are you guys new, we've never seen you before!" Bloom greeted them.

"Oh… really?" Lita gave a fake smile with a small sweatdrop. "Well we don't go here, you could say that we're just passing through!" Serena put a pair of designer sunglasses on over her eyes, just to be on the safe side.

"Have you seen a girl with long blonde hair that's styled like a pair of meatballs?" The redhead asked urgently.

"Nope! Can't say that we have!" Raye shrugged faux-apologetically. _"__No one calls Serena that except us!__"_ She thought angrily.

"Where did you get that outfit?!" Stella had spotted Serena. "I have to know! It's a little plain for my tastes, but i can easily customise it with a little magic afterwards-"

"Anyway, we have to get going now. We have someone to meet." Darien cut in smoothly.

"Er… ok! See you around!" The fairies gave a wave before running back to the main body of the school. Serena gave a very big sigh of relief.

"_I hope Mina gets here soon!__"_ She thought, biting her glossed lip.

Suddenly they looked over head as a huge red fountain ship hovered above them, as if on cue.

"GET IN LOSERS WE'RE GOING SHOPPING!" The blonde's voice hollered through some kind of sound equipment that resembled a megaphone, distorting her voice slightly.

"Well you heard her!" Serena shrugged and teleported herself on board, while the others did the same.

"So long suckers!" Mina hollered as she slammed her hand on the radio button. "More than a feeling" immediately began belting out of the ship's sound system.

"I don't even wanna know how she got hold of this thing." Serena deadpanned.


	24. Fun in the Sun

**Wow i've actually been sticking to my original plan all through the story! Thanks Plan Pony!**

"This will be your new headquarters." Baltor announced, showing Diaspro around the dark, damp catacomb in the underground lair.

"…Very sophisticated i'm sure." Diaspro said sarcastically, looking around in faint disgust. "Ew!" She cringed as she had almost come dangerously close to a spider web.

"Quiet." The wizard hissed. "I do not want us to be overheard."

"Why ever not?" The golden haired girl raised an eyebrow. "You're the most feared criminal in Magix right now, whoever would you be afraid of?"

"I said quiet!" Baltor snapped a little more forcibly. "The situation has become… complicated." He grit his teeth. "Which is why i need your utmost cooperation and no questions asked!"

"Whatever. I don't really care about what you want to do to all the realms. I just want to talk to Sky!" Diaspro said irritably.

Baltor's eyes flashed. "Good because it just so happens that i have an errand for you," He turned to face her. "In the palace of Eraklyon."

000

The resort realm Galeria had said in it's brochure that it had everything, and for the most part it did, however what it was lacking was extremely crucial for anyone living in the modern times…

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T HAVE WI-FI?!" Mina had screeched at one of the shop staff.

"I mean technology doesn't work in this realm." The man had stated calmly.

"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO FEED MY DRAGONS?!" The blonde had shouted. Various passers by had given her strange looks.

"Hey cease the fire, drama princess!" Raye had hissed, grabbing her wrist and dragging her away.

"Remind me to sue this place when i'm Queen," Mina had grumbled.

"Well if you'd waited a second before exploding, Serena could have shown you what she's got!" The raven haired girl sighed, gesturing to the other blonde who showed them the purple object with a smile.

"It's an electro gem!" Serena had told them. "We worked on them in class once, It powers up any technology near it wherever you are! And i easily boosted its energy with some power of my own…" She winked knowingly.

"Whoa," The girls grinned. "You made it? That's awesome!" Lita exclaimed.

"This looks incredible, if i may i'd like to study it when we get home!" Ami peered at it closely.

"…Wow… I'm actually impressed!" Raye seemed horrified that she legitimately felt that way.

"You don't have to look so surprised Raye chan." Serena narrowed her eyes.

"You are my saviour!" Mina flung her arms around Serena's neck and kissed her on both cheeks.

"Jeez don't make it gay Mina!" Raye mock sighed as everyone laughed.

"It's a girl bromance Raye don't fight it!" Mina stuck her tongue out.

000

"I'm just saying that Artemis could've come here with you." Luna remarked from her position on Mina's shoulder as they strolled down the aisle.

"What's the worry? He's in good hands! Get over it already!" Mina said. She grinned knowingly. "You're just jelly that Serena's got her guy with her and you haven't!"

"I am not jealous!" Luna's fur stood on end.

They were currently looking at various places in the giant mall. Raye had insisted on checking out the ski mountains but remembering the terrifying incident with the Negaverse a few years back, Serena had openly declined.

"Well how about something else?" Ami had consulted a large map. "There's all kinds of activities here, swimming, rock climbing, even zip lining!"

"Uh, uh. I don't wanna do any outdoorsy stuff!" Serena had shaken her head firmly. "Not after watching that extreme outdoors programme!"

**flashback **

_Serena and Mina are watching TV where a presenter with a thick scottish accent is talking about his equipment for zip lining as he stands at the top of a treehouse. _

_Harry Bold: Hiya! Harry Bold here, saying you're never too old or too bold for adventure! Now today we're going zip lining down the highest mountains in Britain!_

_It zooms out to show a small forest._

_Serena turns to Mina. "When did you even find this show?"_

"_Used to watch it when i lived there!" Mina says through a mouthful of snacks. _

_Harry Bold: Now something very important- safety! This harness is top notch in security, it my look like a large piece of string tied in a few knots but the bloke in the shop said that it's definitely not! This is just the fashion for how harnesses look these days, and to be honest the amount i paid for it, it's highly unlikely that he just sold me a few bits of string tied together!_

_He then picks up a pair of shoes. _

_Harry Bold: The bloke in the shop said these are real mountain climbing boots, they're definitely not average plimsolls with drawing pins stuck on the bottom. You pay a lot more for it to look like there are drawing pins stuck to the bottom._

_So what else did he sell us? a special zip lining rucksack, special zip lining sunglasses so i can look cool when i get my photo taken, a book, in case i get bored, a DVD on zip lining and a laptop to watch it on! _

_He shoves everything into the rucksack, steps into the tangled string and ties it to the top of the zip cord. _

_Harry Bold: Great bloke! He really was helpful with all this gear! Now let's go zip lining!_

_The screen fades to black. When it fades back in it shows Harry Bold lying on the ground like a starfish, covered in dirt and tree debris. One of his legs is bent at an odd angle. _

_Harry Bold: (tries to shake his head) no, that's not for me._

_He is wheeled into an ambulance._

_Serena sits there in shock._

_Mina: That. was. AWESOME! I wanna try that right now!__  
><em>

_Serena falls to the floor in defeat. _

**end flashback**

Since that argument had ended, Serena had taken Darien to help her decide on a new swimsuit. Although slightly put out that her ski suggestion had been shot down Raye had shrugged and remembered that she wanted a new pair of boots and had gone with Ami to check out the shoe selection.

Mina and Lita were in the clothes aisle with Luna, checking out some furry jackets.

"Ugh why is everything in this dimension fake?" Mina said with slight disgust as she felt the artificial fur on a black coat and feeling Luna's to compare. The Mau's sleek pelt certainly felt softer and smoother.

"Are you saying you want to wear real animal fur?" Luna raised an eyebrow.

"Hey didn't you say that you had important news to tell us Mina?" Lita asked as she held up a green jacket against herself and examined it in the mirror.

"Oh that's right." Mina sweat dropped, slumping forwards. "Ugh you reminded me!" She leant against the wall.

"Mina? Is everything ok?" Lita touched her shoulder. However she retracted her hand as the blonde suddenly snapped into life, leaping into the air.

"Call everyone back here, i need a girls conference stat!" She exclaimed loudly, whipping out her communicator.

Serena and Darien had just exited the swimsuit store holding a few shopping bags when Serena's communicator started beeping.

"Serena! Serena! I need you to come here! I have to tell you my very important thing!" She could hear Mina's frantic tone on the other end of the communicator.

"Mina?" Serena was filled with worry. Was her friend in danger?

However when they all arrived they found Mina perfectly safe in the jacket aisle and hopping up and down where she stood.

"Mina are you ok? We came as soon as we could!" Ami said, looking around for any enemy.

"I have an emergency! I am at the heart of a critical situation here!" Mina whined. She grabbed one of Serena's pigtails. "HE KNOWS!" She whispered dramatically.

The others stood there in silence for a few seconds. "… In japanese?" Raye eventually said.

"He knohohows!" Mina wailed. "What do i do? What do i do?"

Suddenly it all clicked into place for Serena. "Is this about Marik?"

"Agh!" The others fell to the floor, each with a giant sweatdrop.

"Oh you mean your incredibly obvious attempts to hide how you're madly in love with him? For Ares sake Mina just tell the guy how you feel!" Raye was face palming.

"Nooo i can'ttt!" Mina continued to whine.

"But why are you trying to hide it Mina? It isn't like you to be shy!" Lita frowned.

Mina fidgeted uncomfortably. "You guys don't get it! Every time i feel like i'm getting closer to a guy it always never works out! I'm starting to think i have a curse to be forever alone or something!" She looked down sadly.

"Hey that's not true!" Serena gently took her hand. "Your the Senshi of love aren't you?"

"Easy for you to say, you've already found your soulmate!" Mina's eyes started to water.

"You may be right but it wasn't easy!" It was Darien's turn to speak. He went over to Mina. "Over the past couple of years there've always been people trying to get between us, from the Negaverse, nightmares or just ordinary people who are jealous of us! But it's a question of whether you want to fight to keep it or give up!" He spoke calmly. Serena smiled warmly at his words.

"And i know you're not someone to give up," The prince of Earth reassured Mina. "If you want it, you'll make it happen!"

"Thanks Darien, coming from you guys that means a lot!" Mina smiled, she had always admired their relationship. "Alright! Let's have a great trip everyone!"

000

The next day the group had decided on camping in the tropical beach area of the resort realm. With a simple teleport they had managed to find the perfect secluded beach in no time, on the edge of a forest. What was more they had been able to purchase tents that pitched themselves, saving Mina the trouble of asking her friend CJ if she could borrow hers.

"Ooh shiiny…" Serena and Mina stared at the shimmering ocean before them. They had already changed into their bikinis, and Serena was holding a large rubber ring with a hello kitty motif.

"Who knew one area in an entire resort could go on for miles?" Ami marvelled, putting on her sunglasses to look at the large green forest on the other side of the water.

"Alright, FIRST IN THE WATER!" Mina sped towards the sea, the water splashing around her legs.

"Hey guys!" She waved at the others who had finished changing and had come out the tents. "The water's great!"

"I think i'd like to stay on dry land for a bit!" Darien waved his hand apologetically. "I need to check some of my papers."

"Sure! Be right back hon!" Serena gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and ran over to join her blonde friend.

"AAAGHH!" She exclaimed, feeling a wave of cold water cover her feet, making them feel like blocks of ice. She glared at Mina. "You lied to me," She pouted with a whine.

Mina shrugged. "Well yeah, you wouldn't have done it otherwise- EEK!"

Serena had just sent a small tidal wave her way, leaving her dripping wet hair plastered over her face and down her back.

"Did you just splash me?"

"I just splashed you." Serena confirmed.

"You just splashed me!"

"I just splashed you-"

"WATER FIGHT!" Mina suddenly yelled at the top of her voice, splashing Serena with all her might.

"Oh yeah?! On behalf of the Moon prepare to feel my LUNA NIAGARA!" Serena instantly retaliated.

On the safety of the dry sand, Raye Lita, Luna and Darien watched the watery scene with sweat drops.

SPLASH!

Suddenly both blondes were hit by a humongous tidal wave that splashed in their direction. Peeling strands of wet hair off their faces they turned to see Ami in the water next to them with an embarrassed smile.

"It's always the quiet ones." Mina deadpanned.

000

"Ok question 1, you discover that your cute new boyfriend has horrible taste in music! Do you: A- use magic to change his tastes to fit yours, B- tell him to get lost or C- accept him for who he is?"

Raye read aloud from the fashion magazine. She along with Ami, Lita, Serena and Mina (who were still drying off from their water fight earlier) were lying on comfy loungers in their favourite colours on one of the many beaches the resort realm had to offer. Darien was sitting at a small table checking over one of his last minute coursework pieces, some smart black headphones secured over his ears as he listened to music. A sleeping Luna was curled up next to his laptop.

"Who writes these?!" Serena exclaimed. "The answer should be obvious! You should always let someone be true to themselves!"

"That's right! My old boyfriend Freddy always used to listen to this weird rock stuff that no one had ever heard of!" Lita shook her head. "But then again i shouldn't have bothered to stick around him because he dumped me!" She gave a small growl and threw an empty soda can at the bin.

"But use magic to change someone's personality?" Ami was appalled. "That's practically a form of brainwashing!"

"It would certainly explain why that Brandon guy said he liked Justin Bieber…" Serena frowned, stroking her chin at the revelation. Yet another reason to stay away from Stella.

"Look guys, its simple!" Mina raised her hands. "Just find someone who's the whole package!"

"Like you did?" Raye smirked slyly.

"…I've just decided i'm thirsty! Who wants a soda?" The blonde got up from her lounger rather quickly.

As she went to get another soda out out of the ice bucket, Serena, Ami, Raye and Lita huddled into a circle.

"So, her and Marik, huh?" Lita said softly.

Raye sighed. "Tell me about it, Everyone already knew! I really don't get how she thinks it's still a secret!"

It was true, the girls could read Mina when she was sending signals like the backs of their hands, thanks to many years of observing her behaviour.

"So when'd you guys first figure it out?" Lita asked.

"For me, it was when he stopped her from going after that chicken who gave her an expired coupon," Raye tapped her chin.

**flashback**

_The group arrive at a fast food place that recently opened up. Before they enter a giant chicken gives Mina a small piece of paper outside the door. _

_They go over to Tea, who now has a new part time job there. _

_Tea: Hey guys! Have you got any idea what you'll wanna order?_

_Mina: I do! That nice chicken gave me a coupon!_

_Tea takes it and holds it up. :Er Mina, i'm sorry but this looks like it expired months ago!_

_Mina whirls around at the chicken with a frightening glare. __  
><em>

_Mina: YOU SON OF A—-_

_However before she can pull out her Henshin stick she feels a hand on her shoulder, she turns back to see Marik shaking his head. _

_Marik: He' s not worth it. _

_Mina( at loss for words tries making gestures at the chicken): But he… but… agh! Her hands flop to her sides in defeat. _

_Marik sympathetically takes her over to the table, leaving Serena and Raye in utter shock at what they just witnessed. _

**end flashback **

"Mina abandon a stupid plan for payback?! That never happens!" The brunette finished.

"Yeah but don't forget they came up with an even bigger idea to get revenge on the chicken after that," Serena sweatdropped.

"I'm surprised they weren't ejected from the place," Ami added frankly.

"I called it when we went to Kaibaland." Darien added his two cents from his chair. "Yeah i remember that!" Serena nodded in agreement.

"You guys wanna read more of this?" Raye waved the magazine at them.

Serena shrugged. "Meh, bored now. Wanna troll her about it?"

"Sure!" Raye and Lita's eyes glittered in unison as they went over to Mina, who had placed the drinks on a small table. Ami sighed and continued to read her book on her lounger.

"You know he's probably known the whole time," Lita smirked as they began to round in on her.

"STOP TALKINGGG!" Mina shrieked, taking a huge leap in the air her face as red as Raye's lounger.

"And the rest of the gang knows, and they've all been telling each other, what do you think we talk about when you're not here?" Raye ventured further.

"STOP TALKING!" Mina screeched again, flapping her arms wildly.

"We have a drinking game going, take a drink every time you fangirl at him when he's not looking,"

"STOP TALKINGGG!" Mina yelled in her face, shaking her by the shoulders.

"Just think Mina, if you don't get your butt in gear this is sooo not gonna be you!" Serena said slyly. "Oh, Darien!" She called over her shoulder in a sing song voice.

"Yes?" Her boyfriend came over to join them. Serena took a minute to savour how his light blue shirt clung to his body.

"I was thinking, maybe we could go explore some of the forest later?" She hugged him around the waist. "Alone."

"Sure! I should be done with my paper by then," He smiled. Raye cleared her throat loudly, making Serena blush.

"Don't worry we won't spy on you! We've got other people to mess with!" They looked at Mina, who was starting to have steam pouring out of her ears.

000

"Thanks for the new flame dragon Lita!" Raye grinned, tapping the screen on her phone. They were all playing Dragon city on a large towel, the electro gem in the middle of their group circle.

"No problem! I should thank you for the electric dragon!" The brunette replied happily.

"Hehehe just sneaking into Kaiba's lands, stealing his gold!" Mina had a big sly grin spread across her face.

"Mina it's actually impossible to steal things in this game." Ami sweatdropped, collecting gold from her own Mercury dragons.

"Yeah you've been helping him collect his gold the whole time!" Raye said.

"Damn it! Foiled again!" The Venusian cursed.

Serena stared fondly at her dragons. "You know, i wonder why there wasn't a collaboration with Duel Monsters! There seems to be a reference to everything else! And it'd be majorly awesome to have a Blue eyes White Dragon on here!"

Mina shook her head thoughtfully. "Nah i know for a fact that the creator had other priorities in mind!"

_Elsewhere in the Hasbro studios Lauren Faust sat on a sofa filled with My little Pony cushions having tea with a man in a smart red suit and long white hair, half of it covering his face. _

"_So remind me, how would you increase the power of Fluttershy in this 'pony deck'?" She asked. _

"_Oh that's simple!" Maximillion Pegasus replied. "You'd play the Magicard element of kindness that would equip her with extra attack and defence points!"_

"That shouldn't really surprise anyone." Darien gave a small sweat drop. He was breeding Terra dragons so he could sell them for more gold.

"Hope that works out, it seems that chance was made for him!" Serena gave a supportive smile, feeding her Moon dragons. "Uw—whaa?" She squeaked as she used up the last of her dragon food. "I only just finished growing all those rainbow flowers!

"You had all this dragon food. Aaaand it's gone!" Mina shook her head. "Yaya! I just hatched my 5th Gold dragon!" She squealed in excitement. "I've been waiting two days for this!"

"Are you naming it Marik jr the 5th?" Raye asked slyly.

"…STOP TALKING!"

000

It was late in the evening and the group of friends sat around a campfire roasting Marshmallows.

"Ah, so nice and warm!" Mina placed both palms of her hands closer to the flaming pile of twigs.

"Thanks Raye!" Serena grinned, taking a huge bite out of the sweet kebab she had made on her stick.

"Don't mention it." Sailor Mars deadpanned, one gloved hand in front as she carefully controlled the flame.

"Hey girls," Ami looked up worriedly. "I can't help but wonder, what happened to the fairies?"

"Nobody cares!" Mina cut in.

"It's not that, i mean what if they come looking for us?" The bluette wondered.

Mina stroked her chin thoughtfully. "Well i do have one back up plan up my sleeve!"

**Mina's possible plan**

_The Sailor Scouts are trapped in a clearing by the Winx, who are grinning evilly like 80s zombies. _

_Bloom: Haha you're finished Sailor Scouts!_

_Mina hesitates for a second then jumps in the air and points straight at Bloom._

_Mina: WITCH! SHE'S A WITCH!__  
><em>

_The group of witch finders run into the clearing, chanting "Witch! Witch! Witch!". They pick up Bloom and carry her offscreen. However the Sailor Scouts whirl around to see a deranged Icy leering at them. Fortunately Mina is ready. _

_Mina( points at her dramatically) : WITCH! SHE'S A WITCH!_

_The witch finders come back for Icy, still shouting "Witch! Witch! Witch!" When they have disposed of her, the song 'celebration' plays in the background as the girls each get out a wine glass while Mina opens a bottle. _

**end of Mina's possible plan**

"I already thought of that." Serena deadpanned with a sweatdrop.

"Yeah but i didn't!" Mina stuck her tongue out. "Besides, orange head still thinks she's the biggest hotshot around here! She'll probably try to take care of it herself!" She frowned. "Besides as i said before, nobody cares what _they__'__re_ doing! Right guys?"

"Right." Raye, Lita and Darien nodded in unison.

"Excellent!" She beamed. "Now onto more important issues! Like who gets the last marshmallow?"

After 3 rounds of rock paper scissors where the marshmallow eventually went to Lita, the friends had decided on sleeping arrangements. Serena and Darien would be sharing a tent, followed by Luna with Ami and Lita and finally Mina with Raye.

"Don't be getting up to any tricks now, 'kay?" Mina winked suggestively at Serena.

"At least she has the chance to," Raye smirked. Mina chose to give a silent glare, keeping her mouth firmly shut as she crawled into the tent.

A few minutes later Serena sat alone in her and Darien's tent, brushing her hair. Aside from the chatter of the girls in their respective sleeping areas it was surprisingly quiet.

She had just put her hairbrush away when Darien opened the tent flap. "Hey Serena! Would you still like to take that walk?"

"Of course!" Serena whispered with a smile, taking his hand as she crawled out the tent.

The beach was quiet and peaceful, the white sand taking on a silvery shade from the light of the moon. The young couple strolled down by the low tide, hand in hand.

"It's so beautiful out here," Serena said softly. "Tomorrow we should- eek!"

She tripped over something in the sand and would have fallen on her feet, had Darien not caught her.

"I guess some things never change, huh, Meatball head!" He couldn't resist using her nickname and was rewarded with an adorable pout.

"You have to go there didn't you! Hey what's that?" Serena noticed the small red object that had tripped her. She picked it up to see that it was one half of a red shell.

"Wait, there's another one!" Darien had spotted the other half nearby.

"It looks like the two halves of a destiny stone," Serena gasped as they put their shells together. "I heard fairies talking about it, apparently if a couple finds two halves of the same stone they're meant to be together!"

"And ours fit perfectly!" Darien added. Serena gave big smile and flung her arms around his neck.

"I wish we could stay like this, forever." She closed her eyes, enjoying their embrace.

"Well the night's not over yet!" Darien gently broke away to face her. Serena giggled as their lips met, not for the first time since their reunion and certainly not the last.


	25. Twists and spins

When Serena eventually woke up she could see the bright sunlight shining through the canvas ceiling. She slowly emerged from the tent to see that the others were very much awake and chatting animatedly among themselves.

"It looks like somebody got a good night's sleep!" Mina looked over her shoulder at the Moon Princess with a cheeky wink as she and Raye toasted their breakfast sandwiches over a fire. Ami was sitting at the table reading a book and Lita was preparing some more sandwiches at the table.

"…We'll go with that!" Serena smiled, her cheeks a glowing shade of pink. "Hey something smells good!" She perked up and padded over to them, still in her loosely buttoned pink shirt and sleep pants.

"You're lucky you got up right on time!" Darien remarked as he handed her the next sandwich that had just been finished, Luna perched on his shoulder. "But i thought i'd let you sleep for a bit," He winked, knowing all too well what it was like trying to wake her up before she was ready.

"Thanks! Mmm!" She took a big bite, savouring the taste of egg and bacon. "I could get used to starting my day like this! So did everyone sleep well?" She asked, looking to the others. Instantly Raye shot a narrowed glare through her sunglasses at Mina, who looked sheepish.

"It'd have been better if someone-" Mina laughed nervously at the Raven haired girl's tone. "hadn't decided to start spewing random crap at 4am! REALLY REALLY LOUDLY!"

**Flashback**

_Mina and Raye are lying in their sleeping bags in the tent. Suddenly Raye is jolted awake by something touching her face. Her eyes spring open to find Mina, still asleep, poking her repeatedly in the face. _

_Mina: Devil fingerrr! Devil fingerrr!_

_Raye tries to push her hand away but suddenly Mina rolls closer and screams in her ear, her blue eyes half open. _

_Mina: DEVIL FINGER!_

_Raye shoves her and turns onto her other side. For a few minutes it seems Mina has gone back to sleeping silently. But then…_

_Mina (from her side of the tent): KICKED IN THE NUTSSS!_

**End flashback**

"Wha- i said i was sorry!" Mina held up her hands with a sweatdrop. "It was in my dream! And you know no one can control what happens in their dreams!"

"Like that time you screamed the house down that your dance choreographer was an evil angel coming to get you?" The raven haired girl sighed.

"Artemis said that you made him sit in the changing rooms for weeks because you thought he'd attack," Luna added, making the blonde give a small scowl. "Stupid fancy man," She muttered.

"So what happened?" Serena asked curiously.

Mina puffed out her chest. "For your information it was actually a lot of useful Sailor tactics we could use to take down the diva we call our new enemy!"

**Dream 1**

_Baltor is walking though a forest. All of a sudden Mina leaps out from behind a bush and starts poking him in the shoulder._

_Mina: DEVIL FINGERRRR! DEVIL FINGERRRR!_

_Baltor (getting weaker with every jab): No! Stop doing that!_

_Mina: DEVIL FINGERRRR! _

_Baltor: AAAAAGGGHHH!_

_He dissolves into nothingness, leaving his burgundy jacket on the ground. _

_Mina (puts on sunglasses): Now who's the victim? Take that fancy man!_

**Dream 2**

_Baltor is exiting a castle in an unknown realm carrying some magical looking artefacts. Suddenly a man with an orange afro wearing a black jumpsuit and sunglasses runs up from around the corner and kicks him in the crotch, making him fall to the floor. _

_Kicked in the nuts guy: Haha! Check it out man you totally dropped those spells!_

_Baltor angrily tries to blast him from his position on the ground while attempting to get up but the man jumps neatly out of the way every time. _

_Kicked in the nuts guy: Hey, hey, whoa! You like your magic don't you? Ever turned anyone into a frog? (His voice gets quicker as Baltor keeps trying to attack) Hey, but you wanna know something? (He points to a camera) You've been kicked in the nuts!_

_Baltor looks into the camera he is pointing at and realisation spreads across his face. _

_Baltor: Haha i love that show!_

_The kicked in the nuts guy helps him up and shakes his hand while a live studio audience laugh in the background. _

_Kicked in the nuts guy: Haha yeah! That was classic man! But you're gonna need some magical ice or something for the nuts! _

_He deftly kicks Baltor in the nuts a second time, this time knocking him unconscious before running away. _

**End Dreams**

"…Wow." Was all Lita could say, blinking.

"You've been watching too much of that reality TV!" Luna shook her head.

Mina shrugged. "Well if all else fails there's always my backup!"

**Mina's possible plan **

_Mina and Serena are cornered by Baltor in Cloud Tower. _

_Baltor: Mwahahaaa! Now i will take the Silver Crystal and take over the world!_

_Mina: WITCH! HE'S A WITCH!_

_The stuart witch finders hurry into the room chanting. "Witch! Witch! Witch! Witch!" They take Baltor and carry him offscreen. Serena looks at Mina, satisfied. _

_Serena: Well that solves that!_

**End Mina's possible plan**

"Ok are you gonna use that for everything now?" Raye sighed in exasperation.

"Why not? It's foolproof! Oh well we still should try out the other stuff before using it." Mina dusted some crumbs off her shorts, not noticing the others stare at her.

"You know we should be used to her thought patterns after all this time." Ami commented, looking up from her book.

"Yeah but why does it still surprise us?" Darien cocked his head to one side.

"Well i for one think her spontaneity makes her awesome!" Serena declared, throwing her arms around the other blonde's shoulders, who smiled.

"Yup, that's our Mina!" Lita smiled as everyone joined in the group hug.

000

In honouring the true tradition of their beach holidays the Sailor Scouts had decided to play Suikawari. As they'd had it in their plans Serena had been able to pick out some magical watermelon seeds when they'd gone shopping and Ami and Lita were overseeing the growth of the giant fruit. Raye was setting up a white sheet that matched her flowing sundress and sunhat while Mina was sitting on a towel in the corner, engrossed with the contents of her phone. Serena had just finished showing Darien the spells she had learnt to conjure up the other equipment.

"So they taught these things at this school?" The Prince of Earth shook his head in slight disbelief. "I guess they really do use magic to solve all their problems, huh?"

"So it would seem," Serena said. "But surely every magic must have limitations! I don't think its good to rely on it all the time- Hey, i've got an incoming call!" She exclaimed, startled by the beep coming from her wrist.

"You take it, i'll go help Ami and Lita with the watermelon." Darien got up from his seat.

"Not before you give me something!" Serena stretched her neck in his direction with an obvious gesture. He leant in and gave her a quick kiss before walking away.

"That's right!" She nodded, satisfied as she opened her communicator.

"Reiko?" She said in surprise.

"That is right Serena!" The image of the blue haired Mermaid Queen said happily, giving a little wave. "I am not intruding on anything important, am i?"

"Nope! Actually you're not intruding on anything right now!" Serena replied with a smile. "We're currently taking some R and R, right girls?" She looked over her shoulder, waving the communicator so that the Cyanette could see them, "Say hi everyone!"

"Hey!" The others waved.

"But I had to get away from that school, right now it's got some majorly bad vibes!" Serena shook her head as she put the device back down.

"Oh no!" Reiko gasped. "Forgive me Princess! We had no idea the experience would be so troublesome, we only wanted to aid you in training your powers!"

"Don't worry about it!" Serena waved dismissively. "I like to think that i did get stronger from my time there! And now i can take the techniques back with me!"

"That's wonderful!" Reiko beamed. "So what may i ask are you doing right now?" 

"We're staying at a place called the resort realm," Serena informed her.

"Don't eat the shellfish!" A familiar dark skinned woman strode into view. "One time Siren and Kitty thought it would be a good idea, they ended up puking for a month!" 

"Crow! One doesn't talk about those things in front of a camera!" Reiko flushed with embarrassment.

"Trust me that's nothing compared to the stuff Mina's cooked when she's drunk." Serena said. "I swear once her chocolate pudding had green tea powder!"

"Oh but you have got to check out the forest!" Akane cut in. "All the poisonous spider lillies are beautiful this time of year!"

"I'll… keep an eye out!" Serena sweatdropped, she didn't particularly like the idea of going near poisonous plants.

"So were you still interested in looking up the Enchantix transformation?" Reiko enquired.

Serena sighed. "To be honest if it means having to look like those fashion challenged fairies then i don't want it. Serenity knows how they can fly without people looking up their skirts! Our fukus are leotards so we'll never have that problem! Besides, it doesn't seem that necessary seeing as how Princesses of the Sailor Alliance are more powerful than fairies anyway."

"Damn right!" Akane nodded approvingly before frowning slightly. "But wait, if you wanted to escape from Alfea does that mean some uppity fairy princesses have been giving you trouble?! 'Cause if they have just say the word and we can go over there and sort them out!" The queen of Coronis cracked her knuckles.

"That won't be necessary!" Serena waved her hands. While it was true that the situation hadn't been that desirable, the Moon Princess was still keen to avoid fights where she could. "But it's great to know that we have you girls on our Sailor team too!" She smiled.

"Well as long as you're doing what you think is right, then i'm happy." The Mermaid Queen clasped her hands together.

"Don't be strangers now, ok?" Akane pointed a polished black nail with a wink.

"Say hi to Nyanko and Nezu from me!" Serena waved as the screen faded out.

"So has Valtor been giving them any trouble?" Lita wanted to know as the blonde padded over to join them with the blindfold and the wooden stick.

Serena shook her head with a smile as she fondly remembered the image of Sailor Coronis pwning the Wizard. "Nah after what happened on Mermaid something tells me he won't want to go back to their planets in a hurry!- Ooh! Whatcha doing?" She had spotted Mina huddled over her phone.

"Just texting!" Mina said in a small voice, only giving her a brief glance before going back to what she was doing.

"So who gets to go first?" Raye clapped her hands together.

"Ooh me! me!" Mina had quickly stashed her phone in her back pocket and was now jumping up and down wildly, waving her arm in the air.

"Hey! I made the equipment!" Serena said indignantly, then she smirked. "Plus i am your leader so i get to go first!"

"Aww no fair!" Mina sulked.

"I've done all the calculations, you've got three minutes to hit the target!" Ami informed Serena as Darien tied the pink blindfold around her head. Unknown to her Mina had got out her phone again and was ready to record the whole thing.

"This is gonna be good!" Raye sniggered from next to her.

"Got it," Serena said determinedly as she was spun three times. "Whoa, i'm getting dizzy!" She exclaimed, stumbling around. Darien gently pushed her in the direction of the watermelon.

"Oh come on you spin around all the time when you make your special attacks!" Raye called out loudly. Indeed the Moon Princess had effortlessly mastered the art of twirling during her time as a Senshi.

"Yeah but i'm seeing when i do thattt!" Serena whined. "Hey i got it!" She beamed as she felt her stick touch the Watermelon and raised the instrument above her head. "MOON SUIKA SMASH! Take that! And that!" In her head she was delivering epic karate chops to the giant fruit, smashing pieces everywhere.

Everyone watched with sweatdrops from the sidelines as she continued hitting the watermelon over and over without even making a scratch.

"C'mon girl! Use those Sailor Muscles!" Mina hollered, trying to flex her own in demonstration.

"Aww my arms ache!" Serena complained.

"Well your times up!" Ami sighed, handing Mina's phone to Lita as she got up to help Serena take the blindfold off.

"Aww what?" Serena exclaimed. "I didn't even make a dent!" She wailed.

"Alright step aside grandmas! This looks like a job for the pro!" Mina took the bat with glints of determination in her eyes.

000

This holiday's game was eventful to say the least. Mina ran past the melon and ended up assaulting a huge rock instead (though she did make a rather large crack in the middle of the rock), Ami disqualified herself after realising that she was a centimetre to close to the target, Darien somehow managed to make the melon roll off the sheet and Raye attacked it from all angles but only managed a small dent. In the end Lita had struck it full on, slicing it open down the middle and splattering everyone with dripping red melon juice. Fortunately Serena could use a simple vanishing spell to remove the stains from their clothes.

"Hey guys, what d'ya say we go on a little adventure later?" Raye suggested as they all sat on the large blanket under the bright sun eating watermelon slices. "There's all that forest area behind us, it'd be a shame not to check it out while we're here!"

"Just as long as i don't have to drink my own piss," Mina said idly, the outline of her mouth bright red from the melon juice.

"Why do you always think that's gonna happen whenever we walk through a forest?" Darien sweatdropped. Serena gently put a hand on his shoulder.

"Trust me sweetie, she'll never tell." She turned to Raye. "Well ok, i guess," She said somewhat reluctantly as she finished her slice and reached for a second one. "I just hope there's not gonna be loads of steep hills or anything! But Akane did say something about poisonous flowers that look pretty!"

"Ooh maybe i should bring some back!" Lita lit up as she took another bite of her own piece. "Maybe my 'Dad' would like them!"

"Did you leave him alone in your apartment?" Serena asked, as if it wasn't a good idea. They all knew their eccentric friend who had "adopted" her didn't exactly think the way humans did. Of course he wasn't a human so that did explain some things, then again he wasn't the strangest of his species they knew…

The brunette sighed. "I did tell him not to water the plants- i hope he listens this time! I'd better call home later."

"Yeah if you don't wanna find a giant coffin in your living room again!" Raye said seriously.

"I'm still wondering how it fit through the door!" Ami exclaimed.

"Hehe you know what you should do?" Mina snickered. "Sic him on the fairies!"

"What may i ask would that do?" Luna raised an eyebrow.

"I would find it HILARIOUS."

"I… think that it would kill them." Darien deadpanned flatly.

"Now you mention it, i don't think they'd even know what an undertaker is!" Serena exclaimed.

Mina snorted. "I can just imagine! Erm Mr Undertaker? What do you do, live in a cave? I mean your clothes are so dark and dreary!" She said in an over the top dumb blonde accent that made everyone laugh.

She then ruffled her fringe so it fell over her eyes and gave a large grin. "Why my dear i make dead people pretty!" She took on a fake cocky accent. "Ooh its a pity you're still alive- i could have given you a makeover!"

"Er… what are dead people?" Serena joined in, taking over the role of the dumb blonde that had seemed to be Stella.

Mina as the Undertaker gave a loud gasp. "You don't know the most important stage of life?! What the bloody hell is wrong with you creature?! I should snap you in two with my old Deathscythe! Even if It's probably a little rusty…"

"You've totally nailed him Mina!" Lita giggled, wiping tears of laughter from her watery green eyes.

"You're lucky, having a special friend like that!" Mina replied. The others knew she was still sore about that incident.

"But seriously, i don't think the fairies even know what the word "die" means!" Serena interjected. "I've never heard anyone say it! There must be a law against it here or something!"

"Well what do you expect when the biggest threat to their magical existence as they know it is a guy who looks like he came from the Twilight saga?" Raye pointed out.

Mina thoughtfully looked to the blue sky. "I wonder what that diva's doing right now?"

**Mina's fantasy**

_Baltor is in a light room dancing sassily to Pretty Girl rock while lip singing along with the tune. The text Hashtag Fabulous appears behind him. _

**End Mina's fantasy**

"Hehe yeah that's probably it!" She laughed contentedly.

000

When they had finished the last of the watermelon everyone decided to take up Raye's idea of exploring the forest behind the beach. Fortunately a lot of light shone through the trees so it wasn't dark at all.

"Mina would you stop looking for pages?" Raye sighed in exasperation as the blonde inspected yet another tree.

"Force of habit," Mina said.

"You've been playing waaay too many video games!" Raye sighed.

"Relax Serena, Slenderman definitely doesn't exist!" Darien chuckled as he looked down to see that Serena was clutching his shirt. "And if he ever did we'd show him who's boss!"

"We'll show him who's boss!" Serena repeated quietly with a nod.

"Hey guys, you gotta see this!" Lita waved to the others from her position behind a tree near a huge clearing.

They followed her over to the clearing and gasped in amazement at the assortment of furry yet reptilian animals that were grazing peacefully.

"Cool dinosaurs!" Mina exclaimed. "Hehehe!" She edged closer and closer to the creatures.

"Careful Mina, we don't know if they're hostile or not!" Ami said worriedly.

"That may be but i've got a bona fide trick that will tame any animal and even save your life!" Mina proclaimed boldly.

Before they could say anything she bounded up to the nearest largest dinosaur and proceeded to beat her chest and stomach in a quick rhythm.

"HAMBONING!" She yelled at the top of her voice.

Surprisingly enough all the creatures in the vicinity appeared to gravitate towards her and bowed down before her like the animals in the Circle of Life.

"Aw yayaaa!" She cheered happily and leapt on the creatures back without it giving any resistance.

"WHOOO! I'M RIDING A DINOSAUR!" She yelled happily at the top of her voice as it started to move. She got out her phone and took a selfie. "Riding on a dinosaur! Hashtag dinosaur selfie!" She titled the post on Facebook.

"C'mon guys you gotta try this!" She urged.

"I think i've got a better way to get their attention." Serena focused the calming power of the Silver Crystal. Sure enough the animals accepted the group as friendly visitors and continued to go about their business.

"My way was better." Mina pouted as Raye and Lita were next to grab a dinosaur.

"Where exactly did you come up with that… technique?" Ami couldn't help asking the princess of Venus as Darien helped Serena onto the last drago-don before jumping up himself.

"Learnt it from some dudes in a park."

"Are these the same guys who sent a bunch of stuff to the moon?" Raye sweatdropped.

"Don't forget who had to clean all that stuff up!" Serena said indignantly.

000

"Adventure time, come on grab your friends! Go to very distant lands, Princess Venus and the other Sailors the fun will never end Adventure Time!" Mina sang loudly at the top of her voice as the friends rode their Drago-dons around the forest.

"Mina will you stop singing the same verse over and over?!" Raye exclaimed indignantly. "You've been doing that for an hour!"

"Aww Raye let her have her fun!" Serena sweatdropped. It was certainly an improvement to what the Venusian had been doing earlier.

**Flashback **

_They are proceeding through the clearing, still surrounded by the strange creatures. Mina is frantically pointing at each of them in turn with an incredibly hyper look on her face. They can even see her bouncing up and down from her seat on her Drago-don's back. _

_Mina: Dinosaur! Dinosaur! Dinosaur! Dinosaur! DINOSAURRRR!_

_The others sweatdrop. _

_Ami: Should we tell her that these animals are most likely not related to the dinosaurs we know from Earth?_

**End Flashback **

"Girls, i've just remembered!" Ami gasped, putting down her camera for a moment. "The dinosaurs haven't completely died out on Earth! Remember when we helped Rini save those plesiosaurs from that volcano?" 

"You're right!" Darien exclaimed. "Man that trip feels like forever!"

"Yeah it all started when you guys decided to crash my relaxation time!" Raye said as a small pulse appeared on her forehead.

"Well yeah, that's what BEST friends do!" Mina turned around with a wink.

"Just like when you lost my shirt?" The Princess of Mars frowned.

**Flashback**

_Raye: MINA! You've had my shirt for a month! I'd like it back!_

_Mina: (acts confused) Erm, shirt? What shirt?___

_Raye: (sighs) It's white with fake bloodstains and says in red letters "Keep calm the Blood's not mine". _

_Mina: Oh that shirt! (nervous laugh) Well you see__… __My bad! Here__'__s a tissue?_

**End Flashback **

Mina gave a small glare. "Yeah yeah but you know who actually lost it?" She paused for dramatic effect. "MY MOM!" She looked around nodding to see if anyone would give her an air high five.

"Didn't she just put it in the wash?" Ami corrected her.

"Well she didn't tell me that!" Mina scowled.

"That adventure was fun!" Serena said softly. "I hope Rini will be a good kid," She stared out at the large river before them.

"I'm certain she will," Darien squeezed her shoulder. "After all she takes after me!" She turned to give a small glare at his smirk.

"Just think, someday she's gonna be here with us!" Lita smiled.

"Maybe she's already here with us!" Mina eyed the couple with a cheshire cat like grin.

"…STOP TALKING!" Serena shrieked.

000

After the intrepid explorers were confident that they had seen most of the realm they had decided to say good bye to their dinosaur friends ( Ami had to pull Mina away from hers). Serena was very glad that they hadn't gone near the jagged looking cliffs they had seen in the distance.

"Aw sweet! A bunch of people just liked my selfie!" Mina exclaimed happily at the campfire as she inspected her phone. "Aww what?! 'That was just a hologram, dinosaurs don't exist. Try to be more original Aino, signed Seto Kaiba'." She read out the comment in indignation.

"I still can't believe Mokuba persuaded him to get a Facebook!" Ami said, taking a sip of cocoa. Even though Lita was currently in her tent they could still here her one-sided phone conversation from where they were sitting.

"So what exactly are we gonna do with these?" Raye held her water star in the palm of her hand.

Serena shrugged. "Well i always thought, when the time comes, just do a big convergence water star style!"

Raye smiled. "At least we actually have something! If i'd been talking to fourteen year old you, you'd have just looked up and gone "we have those?""

"You take that back right now!" Serena stuck her tongue out.

"But what about your powers?" Ami asked. "Has your Lunarian magic really got stronger from the aura sensing?"

"Hell yeah!" Serena grinned. "During this trip i could really feel my aura muscles relaxing! It's true what they say, taking a break is the best medicine!"

"You would say that, wouldn't you?" Raye said snidely. Serena blew a raspberry.

"You know it's funny 'cause the fairies think they can win and get all the glory but we're the most qualified for the job!" Mina grinned.

Ami sighed. "I really hope they don't give us any more trouble!"

"Well if they get butthurt just call the Wambulance!" Mina said, making a V for Victory.

000

Diaspro walked steadily down the familiar corridor of Eraklyon's palace. She knew the place so well after spending half her childhood there, it was practically her second home. Although she was slightly confused as to why Baltor had allowed her to do what she wanted, maybe he would use it to get something from her later.

When she arrived at Prince Sky's dressing room she found him facing the mirror on the opposite wall. Her reflection in the glass quickly alerted him to her presence.

"Diaspro? What are you doing here- i thought my father sent you to prison!" Sky whirled around to face her.

"Relax Sky! I'm not going to fight you!" Diaspro held up her hands. "I just want to talk to you!"

She sighed. "What happened to us?"

Sky's eyes narrowed. "Erm, i don't know? Maybe You brainwashing me and turning me against Bloom and the others!"

Diaspro clenched her fists. "You were the one who left me for that redhead! Before you went to Red Fountain we had always got on so well, i thought we were more than friends…"

Sky sighed. "I'm sorry Diaspro, i know i should have probably told you how i felt sooner- but that doesn't matter anymore because of what you did!"

"_Aww it seems that the young couple are having a lovers tiff!__"_

"Huh?" They both whirled around in the direction of the voice.

Icy was standing in the doorway in all her disenchantixed crimson eyed glory. Her foot rested on one side of the wall as she leant against the other, blocking their escape.

"You - you're that witch!" Diaspro exclaimed.

Icy smiled slyly. _"__You could say that,__"_ She sneered, the metallic undertones of her voice ringing through the room. _"__But i think you__'__ll find i__'__ve certainly had an upgrade from the weak sap i once was!__" _

"Were you working with her all along?" Sky rounded in on Diaspro.

"What?! No, i had no idea she would show up!" The Princess said frantically.

Icy watched the scene with indifference. _"__So I see Baltor wasn__'__t man enough to face me after all,__" _She shrugged, inspecting her sharp nails, before turning back to them with a psychotic grin._ "__Never mind- i can still make an example of his new minion! And prince Blondie will go too! Even better!__"_

She conjured a large Ice crystal and hurled it straight in their direction.

"Wait Sky— LOOK OUT!" Diaspro exclaimed, pushing him away at the last second —

_**SLAM!**_

Everything happened in a blur as the large crystalline spike shot forwards, impaling her against the wall.

Sky stood there in shock, barely registering droplets of the red liquid drip down his face where a small portion had sprayed him. As hard as he tried his eyes could not leave the scene before him of the princess pinned to the wall with her golden curls covering her face, the spike embedded deeply in her stomach and a river of blood slowly dripping down from the fatal wound into a crimson puddle at her feet.


End file.
